AxlPath – Path Manipulation

Path manipulation: basename, dirname, extension, join, resolve. Handles both / (Unix) and \ (UEFI) path separators. All allocated results are freed with axl_free().

Header: <axl/axl-path.h>

Overview

UEFI uses backslash (\) as the path separator, while most developers are familiar with forward slash (/). AXL accepts both and normalizes internally. Paths typically start with a volume name: fs0:/path/to/file.

AXL_AUTO_FREE char *base = axl_path_get_basename("fs0:/logs/app.log");
// base = "app.log"

AXL_AUTO_FREE char *dir = axl_path_get_dirname("fs0:/logs/app.log");
// dir = "fs0:/logs"

AXL_AUTO_FREE char *ext = axl_path_get_extension("app.log");
// ext = "log"

AXL_AUTO_FREE char *full = axl_path_join("fs0:/data", "output.json");
// full = "fs0:/data/output.json"

// Resolve relative paths
char resolved[256];
axl_path_resolve("fs0:/app", "../config/app.cfg",
                 resolved, sizeof(resolved));
// resolved = "fs0:/config/app.cfg"

API Reference

Functions

char *axl_path_get_basename(const char *path)

Return the filename portion of a path.

Returns everything after the last separator (‘/’ or ‘'). Returns a copy of path itself if no separator is found. Caller frees with axl_free(). NULL-safe.

Parameters:

  • path – file path, or NULL

Returns:

newly allocated string, or NULL if path is NULL or allocation fails.

char *axl_path_get_dirname(const char *path)

Return the directory portion of a path.

Returns everything before the last separator. Returns “.” if no separator is found. Caller frees with axl_free(). NULL-safe.

Parameters:

  • path – file path, or NULL

Returns:

newly allocated string, or NULL if path is NULL or allocation fails.

const char *axl_path_extension(const char *path)

Return the file extension from a path.

Returns a pointer to the extension after the last dot in the basename portion of path. Ignores leading dots (e.g. “.bashrc” has no extension). NULL-safe.

Parameters:

  • path – file path, or NULL

Returns:

pointer into path (not allocated), or NULL if path is NULL or has no extension.

char *axl_path_join(const char *dir, const char *name)

Join a directory and filename with ‘/’.

Handles a trailing separator on dir. Caller frees with axl_free(). NULL-safe: returns NULL if either argument is NULL.

Parameters:

  • dir – directory path, or NULL

  • name – filename to append, or NULL

Returns:

newly allocated path, or NULL on failure.

int axl_path_resolve(const char *base, const char *relative, char *out, size_t size)

Resolve a relative path against a base directory.

Combines base and relative, normalizing “.” and “..” components. Both ‘/’ and ‘' are recognized as separators. If relative is absolute (starts with ‘/’ or ‘'), base is ignored. The output always uses ‘/’ separators.

Parameters:

  • base – base directory path

  • relative – relative path to resolve

  • out – output buffer

  • size – output buffer size

Returns:

0 on success, -1 on error (NULL args, buffer too small, or “..” underflow past root).

int axl_path_build_uefi(const char *volume, const char *subpath, char *out, size_t size)

Build a UEFI-style path with volume prefix.

Writes “VOLUME:SUBPATH” into out, converting forward slashes to backslashes. For example, axl_path_build_uefi(“fs0”, “/dir/file”) produces “fs0:\dir\file”.

Parameters:

  • volume – volume name (e.g. “fs0”)

  • subpath – subpath (forward slashes OK)

  • out – output buffer

  • size – output buffer size

Returns:

0 on success, -1 on error (NULL args or buffer too small).

char *axl_get_current_dir(void)

Get the current working directory.

Returns a UTF-8 copy. Caller frees with axl_free().

Returns:

current directory path, or NULL on error.

int axl_chdir(const char *path)

Change the current working directory.

Parameters:

  • path – directory path (UTF-8)

Returns:

0 on success, -1 on error.