dart-use-path-package

SKILL.md

Safe Cross-Platform Path Manipulation in Dart

Contents

1. Core Principles & Cross-Platform Rules

2. Recommended package:path Idioms vs. String Anti-Patterns

3. Bridging Native Paths to POSIX, Git, & URL Contexts

4. Mockable File Systems (package:file vs. Global p.*)

5. Extensions, Compound Extensions & Stem Extraction

6. Workflows & Audit Checklist

References & Examples

1. Core Principles & Cross-Platform Rules

Avoid Treating File Paths as Raw Strings

Native file paths on Windows use backslashes (\), whereas macOS and Linux use forward slashes (/).

String operations like .contains('foo/'), .startsWith('foo/'), or .split('/') silently fail on Windows native paths.

String interpolation like '$dir/$file' injects forward slashes on Windows and produces duplicate slashes (//) when $dir ends with a trailing slash.