Getting Started

Get up and running with Cross-Platform Path Normalizer in 5 minutes.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/tuulbelt/cross-platform-path-normalizer.git
cd cross-platform-path-normalizer
npm install
npm link     # Enable the 'normpath' command globally

Quick Start (CLI)

Convert a Windows path to Unix format:

normpath --format unix "C:\\Users\\file.txt"

Output:

{
  "success": true,
  "path": "/c/Users/file.txt",
  "format": "unix"
}

Quick Start (Library)

Create a file test.ts:

import { normalizePath } from './src/index.js';

const result = normalizePath('C:\\Users\\Documents\\file.txt', { format: 'unix' });

if (result.success) {
  console.log(result.path); // '/c/Users/Documents/file.txt'
} else {
  console.error(result.error);
}

Run it:

npx tsx test.ts

Basic Examples

Auto-Detect Format

import { normalizePath } from './src/index.js';

// Windows path detected automatically
const win = normalizePath('C:\\Users\\file.txt');
console.log(win.format); // 'windows'

// Unix path detected automatically
const unix = normalizePath('/home/user/file.txt');
console.log(unix.format); // 'unix'

Force Specific Format

// Force Unix format
const toUnix = normalizePath('C:\\Users\\file.txt', { format: 'unix' });
console.log(toUnix.path); // '/c/Users/file.txt'

// Force Windows format
const toWin = normalizePath('/home/user/file.txt', { format: 'windows' });
console.log(toWin.path); // 'home\user\file.txt'

Direct Conversion

import { normalizeToUnix, normalizeToWindows } from './src/index.js';

// Direct Windows → Unix
const unixPath = normalizeToUnix('C:\\Program Files\\app');
// '/c/Program Files/app'

// Direct Unix → Windows
const winPath = normalizeToWindows('/c/Users/Documents');
// 'C:\Users\Documents'

Common Patterns

Normalize Test Fixtures

import { normalizeToUnix } from './src/index.js';

const testPath = normalizeToUnix(process.env.TEST_FILE_PATH || '');
// Works on both Windows and Unix CI systems

Handle User Input

import { normalizePath } from './src/index.js';

function processPath(userPath: string) {
  const result = normalizePath(userPath, { format: 'unix' });

  if (!result.success) {
    throw new Error(`Invalid path: ${result.error}`);
  }

  return result.path;
}

Next Steps

• CLI Usage Guide - Complete CLI reference
• Library Usage - API integration
• Examples - Real-world scenarios
• API Reference - Full API documentation