Routines (alphabetical) > Routines: P > PATH_SEP

# PATH_SEP

The PATH_SEP function returns the proper file path segment separator character for the current operating system. This is the character used by the host operating system for delimiting subdirectory names in a path specification. Use this function instead of hard-coding separators to make code more portable.

This routine used to be written in the IDL language, but was rewritten in the C programming language for IDL 7.1.

## Syntax

Result = PATH_SEP( [, /PARENT_DIRECTORY] [, /SEARCH_PATH] )

## Return Value

Returns a string containing the specified separator character.

## Arguments

None.

## Keywords

Specify at most one of the following keywords:

### PARENT_DIRECTORY

If set, PATH_SEP returns the standard directory notation used by the host operating system to indicate the parent of a directory.

### SEARCH_PATH

If set, PATH_SEP returns the character used to separate entries in a search path.

## Version History

5.5 | Introduced
7.1 | Rewritten in C code.

## See Also

FILE_BASENAME, FILE_DIRNAME, FILE_SEARCH, FILEPATH