all Python 3osfunction

os.path.samefile

os.path — metadata (stat)

Check whether two paths refer to the same file (by device and inode).

Syntax

os.path.samefile(p1, p2)

It recognises one file under different names: hard links, symlinks, paths with '..' and different letter case. That is more reliable than comparing path strings. Both paths must exist, or FileNotFoundError is raised. It helps, for instance, to avoid copying a file onto itself.

Examples

import os
print(os.path.samefile(os.__file__, os.__file__))   # → True
same = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.__file__), '.', os.path.basename(os.__file__))
print(os.path.samefile(os.__file__, same))   # → True
print(os.__file__ == same)   # → False (строки разные, а файл один и тот же)
print(os.path.samefile(os.__file__, os.path.dirname(os.__file__)))   # → False (файл и его каталог — разные объекты ФС)
print(os.path.samefile('нет-такого', os.__file__))   # → FileNotFoundError

See also

Common errors

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