Question

I am writing a function where I read inFile in order to split it into two files (outFile1,outFile2).

What I want is if outFile1 and/or outFile2 are specified without pathname directory (ex: outFile1="result1.txt" and outFile2="result2.txt") both files are saved in the same directory as inFile (ex: inFile=”C:\mydata\myfile.txt”). If the pathname directory for the output files is present, I wish to save the results in that directory.

when I don’t report the the outFile pathname directory, the files are saved in the same directory as my python script.

def LAS2LASDivide(inFile,outFile1,outFile2,Parse,NumVal):
    inFile_path, inFile_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(inFile))
    outFile1_path, outFile1_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(outFile1))
    outFile2_path, outFile2_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(outFile2))
    outFile1_name = os.path.splitext(outFile1_name_ext)[0]
    outFile2_name = os.path.splitext(outFile2_name_ext)[0]

example

inFile="C:\\mydoc\\Area_18.las"
outFile1="Area_18_overlap.las"
outFile2="Area_18_clean.las"

inFile_path, inFile_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(inFile))
inFile_path, inFile_name_ext
('C:\\mydoc', 'Area_18.las')

outFile1_path, outFile1_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(outFile1))
outFile1_path, outFile1_name_ext 
('C:\\Program Files\\PyScripter', 'Area_18_overlap.las')

this is all my code (tested) modify with the suggestion of mgilson

import os
from os import path
from liblas import file as lasfile


def LAS2LASDivide(inFile,outFile1,outFile2,Parse,NumVal):
    inFile_path, inFile_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(inFile))
    outFile1_path, outFile1_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(outFile1))
    outFile2_path, outFile2_name_ext = os.path.split(os.path.abspath(outFile2))
    outFile1_name = os.path.splitext(outFile1_name_ext)[0]
    outFile2_name = os.path.splitext(outFile2_name_ext)[0]
    if outFile1_name != outFile2_name:
        # function pesudo_switch
        def pseudo_switch(x):
            return {
                "i": p.intensity,
                "r": p.return_number,
                "n": p.number_of_returns,
                "s": p.scan_direction,
                "e": p.flightline_edge,
                "c": p.classification,
                "a": p.scan_angle,
            }[x]
        h = lasfile.File(inFile,None,'r').header
        # change the software id to libLAS
        h.software_id = ""
        if not os.path.split(outFile1)[0]:
            file_out1 = lasfile.File(os.path.abspath("{0}\\{1}.las".format(inFile_path,outFile1_name)),mode='w',header= h)
        else:
            file_out1 = lasfile.File(os.path.abspath("{0}\\{1}.las".format(outFile1_path,outFile1_name)),mode='w',header= h)
        if not os.path.split(outFile2)[0]:
            file_out2 = lasfile.File(os.path.abspath("{0}\\{1}.las".format(inFile_path,outFile2_name)),mode='w',header= h)
        else:
            file_out2 = lasfile.File(os.path.abspath("{0}\\{1}.las".format(outFile2_path,outFile2_name)),mode='w',header= h)
        for p in lasfile.File(inFile,None,'r'):
            if pseudo_switch(Parse) == int(NumVal):
                file_out1.write(p)
            elif pseudo_switch(Parse) != int(NumVal):
                file_out2.write(p)
        file_out1.close()
        file_out2.close()
    else:
        print "outFile1 and outFile2 cannot have the same name"

Answer 1

What about something like this?

def new_path(fcheck,fpath):
    """
    fcheck --> filename to check
    fpath  --> file with path component to transfer 
               if fcheck has no path component
    """
    head,tail = os.path.split(fcheck)
    return os.path.join(os.path.split(fpath)[0],tail) if not head else fcheck

new_path('foo/bar','baz/qux')   #'foo/bar'  -- has path component.  Leave alone
new_path('bar','baz/qux')       #'baz/bar'  -- No path component.  Transfer
new_path('bar','qux')           #'bar'      -- Neither has path component.  Path must be '.'.  Leave alone.