/dart-use-path-package

name: dart-use-path-package
description: >-
  Cross-platform file and directory path manipulation, segment splitting, extension extraction, and context conversion using `package:path` and `package:file`. Use when writing, inspecting, joining, splitting, or refactoring file paths, directory names, or extensions, or replacing raw string path operations (`.split('/')`, `'$dir/$file'`, `.endsWith('.ext')`, `.replaceAll('\\', '/')`). Don't use for HTTP network URI routing, database query strings, or non-path string processing.
metadata:
  model: models/gemini-3.1-pro-preview
  last_modified: Sun, 06 Sep 2026 07:14:00 GMT

Safe Cross-Platform Path Manipulation in Dart

Contents

• [1. Core Principles & Cross-Platform Rules](#1-core-principles--cross-platform-rules)
• [2. Recommended package:path Idioms vs. String Anti-Patterns](#2-recommended-packagepath-idioms-vs-string-anti-patterns)
• [3. Bridging Native Paths to POSIX, Git, & URL Contexts](#3-bridging-native-paths-to-posix-git--url-contexts)
• [4. Mockable File Systems (`package:file` vs. Global `p.*`)](#4-mockable-file-systems-packagefile-vs-global-p)
• [5. Extensions, Compound Extensions & Stem Extraction](#5-extensions-compound-extensions--stem-extraction)
• [6. Workflows & Audit Checklist](#6-workflows--audit-checklist)
• [References & Examples](#references--examples)

---

1. Core Principles & Cross-Platform Rules

Avoid Treating File Paths as Raw Strings

• Native file paths on Windows use backslashes (`\`), whereas macOS and Linux use forward slashes (`/`).
• String operations like `.contains('foo/')`, `.startsWith('foo/')`, or `.split('/')` silently fail on Windows native paths.
• String interpolation like `'$dir/$file'` injects forward slashes on Windows and produces duplicate slashes (`//`) when `$dir` ends with a trailing slash.

**Rule**: Always decompose paths into segments using `p.split(path)` before inspecting directory hierarchy or segment names, and always join path components using `p.join(...)`.

Pragmatic Boundary Joining vs. Multi-Segment Decomposition (`p.join`)

• **Cross-Platform Libraries (Windows + POSIX)**: Pass individual path segments to `p.join(dir, 'sub', 'file.json')` so `package:path` inserts OS-native separators (`\` on Windows, `/` on POSIX) between every component.
• **POSIX-Only Tools & Static Subpath Greppability**: In codebases exclusively targeting Linux/macOS (or when joining a dynamic base path to a known static subpath), decomposing 5–6 static segments into separate arguments (`p.join(home, '.local', 'share', 'app', 'bin', 'config.json')`) causes `dart format` to wrap across 6–8 vertical lines and **destroys substring greppability** (`grep` / `code_search` for `.local/share/app/bin`).
• **Rule for POSIX Targets**: Prefer **2-argument boundary joining** (`p.join(home, '.local/share/app/bin/config.json')`). This prevents duplicate-slash bugs (`//`) at variable boundaries while preserving single-line readability and exact string searchability.

Normalization vs. Canonicalization (`p.normalize` vs. `p.canonicalize`)

• `p.normalize(path)` resolves `.` and `..` segments purely lexically without consulting the filesystem or standardizing case.
• When deduplicating directory paths or comparing physical file identity across symlinks, relative roots, or case-insensitive filesystems, use `p.canonicalize(path)`.

Strip Location Specifiers & Convert URIs Safely

• Strings formatted as `<path>:<line>-<col>` or `<path>:<line>` are not pure file paths. Passing them directly to `p.normalize` or `Uri.parse` causes bugs (on Windows, `Uri.parse` mistakes `C:` for a URI scheme and `:line` for a port).
• Extract the trailing `:line-col` suffix via regular expression (`RegExp(r'^(.*?):(\d+(?:-\d+)?)$')`) *before* passing the file path to `package:path`.
• **URI Boundary Conversions**: When converting between file paths and `Uri` objects, always use `p.toUri(path)` and `p.fromUri(uri)` rather than `Uri.parse(path)` or manual string concatenation.

---

2. Recommended package:path Idioms vs. String Anti-Patterns

Path Joining

• **Prefer**: `p.join(dir, file)`
• **Avoid**: `'$dir/$file'` or `'a/$b'`
• **Why**: String interpolation injects `/` on Windows and creates duplicate

slashes (`//`) when `$dir` ends with a trailing separator.

Segment Matching

• **Prefer**: `p.split(path).contains('foo')`
• **Avoid**: `path.contains('foo/')`
• **Why**: String matching fails on Windows backslashes (`foo\bar`) and produces

false positives on partial substring names (e.g. `barfoo/`).

Root and Directory Prefixes

• **Prefer**: `p.split(path).first == 'foo'` or `p.isWithin('foo', path)`
• **Avoid**: `path.startsWith('foo/')`
• **Why**: Fails on Windows separators and misses relative prefix variants such

as `./foo/`.

File Extensions

• **Prefer**: `p.extension(path) == '.wasm'`
• **Avoid**: `path.endsWith('.wasm')`
• **Why**: Substring suffix matching falsely matches directories (`foo.wasm/`)

or non-extension suffixes.

Extension Slicing and Compound Extensions

• **Prefer**: `p.withoutExtension(path)` and `p.extension(path, 2)`
• **Avoid**: `path.lastIndexOf('.')` and manual `substring` slicing
• **Why**: Manual arithmetic breaks on hidden dotfiles (`.gitignore`) and

compound extensions (`.js.map`, `.tar.gz`).

POSIX and URL Path Conversion

• **Prefer**: `p.posix.joinAll(p.split(path))` or `p.url.joinAll(p.split(path))`
• **Avoid**: `path.replaceAll(r'\', '/')`
• **Why**: Ad-hoc separator replacement fails on root drives and mixes OS

context with POSIX or URL targets.

URI Conversion

• **Prefer**: `p.toUri(path)` and `p.fromUri(uri)`
• **Avoid**: `Uri.parse(path)` and `uri.path`
• **Why**: Direct URI parsing fails on Windows drive letters (`C:`) and leaks

percent-encoding (e.g. `%20` for spaces).

Directory Basename Helper

• **Prefer**:

`String canonicalDirName(Directory d) => p.basename(p.normalize(d.absolute.path));`

• **Avoid**: Repeating `p.basename(p.norm