Question

Similar to how python has the convenient os.path.join() function, I was wondering if there was a good cross-platform way to do this in C.

My current approach is to set up some preprocessor directives with something like this

#ifdef defined(linux)
#define PATH_SEPARATOR "/"
#else
#define PATH_SEPARATOR "\\"
#endif

Answer 1

I’m pretty sure many cross-platform libraries have such functionality. Maybe you want to have a look at APR’s apr_filepath_merge function.

In C++, you could use Boost:

#include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
using namespace boost::filesystem;

[...]    

path path1("/tmp");
path path2("example");
path result = path1 / path2;