POSIX Path Component Splitter

Split lexical POSIX slash components, collapsing empty components but retaining absolute/trailing-separator flags; no filesystem access.

Description

Split lexical POSIX slash components, collapsing empty components but retaining absolute/trailing-separator flags; no filesystem access.

Splitting a slash path into nonempty components can retain absolute and terminal-separator flags separately.

When to use this tool

Split lexical POSIX slash components, collapsing empty components but retaining absolute/trailing-separator flags; no filesystem access.

Prepare the supplied path fields for this operation.
Compare the complete example with the representation used by your own input before carrying the result into another step.

How to use the tool and how it works

Enter path. Use the exact text syntax, units and index conventions explained below.
Run the tool. If input validation fails, correct the supplied fields before interpreting any result.
Read result.components, result.absolute, result.trailingSeparator. Interpret false, null and empty lists using the distinctions below; they can be valid outputs.

Reject NUL, split on slash and discard empty pieces. Return components plus starts-with-slash and ends-with-slash flags.^[1]

Input field	Meaning and representation	Accepted input
path	path.	Text; at most 8,192 UTF-16 code units, subject to the grammar above

Output field	Interpretation
result	Object containing the named outputs below.
result.components	The components list in the ordering and representation described above.
result.absolute	Flag for absolute under the exact condition described above.
result.trailingSeparator	Flag for trailing separator under the exact condition described above.

json

{
  "input": {
    "path": "/a//b/"
  },
  "output": {
    "result": {
      "components": [
        "a",
        "b"
      ],
      "absolute": true,
      "trailingSeparator": true
    }
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

Dot and dot-dot remain literal components. This does not collapse navigation, interpret backslashes or access the filesystem.
Every declared top-level field is required and unexpected fields are rejected. Numeric inputs must be finite; ordinary text fields are bounded to 8,192 UTF-16 code units, with tighter operation-specific limits where stated.
String lists have at most 128 entries of at most 128 code units; matrices have at most 128 rows and columns. Larger numeric lists and parsed JSON have separate bounded budgets. Nonfinite results and excessively large serialized outputs are rejected.
Indexes are zero-based and spans have an exclusive end unless explicitly stated otherwise. A valid false, null or empty-list result is distinct from malformed input.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use a filesystem-aware implementation with appropriate platform semantics for actual file operations. Literal slash components, Unicode comparison and filename plans do not resolve symlinks or atomically reserve a destination.

References

Tool behavior and example: POSIX Path Component Splitter — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Path Component Common Ancestor
Find a lexical component-level common ancestor of normalized absolute POSIX paths; character-prefix and filesystem ancestry are not inferred.
Path Component Relative Navigation
Plan lexical relative component navigation between absolute POSIX paths; no filesystem or symlink equivalence claim.