Support path-like objects for reading/writing

Author: mwtoews

shapefile.py

@@ -930,14 +930,19 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         self.encodingErrors = kwargs.pop('encodingErrors', 'strict')
         # See if a shapefile name was passed as the first argument
         if len(args) > 0:
-            if is_string(args[0]):
-                path = args[0]
-                
+            path = args[0]
+            try:
+                # Convert path-like objects to str
+                path = os.fsdecode(path)
+            except (AttributeError, TypeError):
+                pass
+            if is_string(path):
+
                 if '.zip' in path:
                     # Shapefile is inside a zipfile
                     if path.count('.zip') > 1:
                         # Multiple nested zipfiles
-                        raise ShapefileException('Reading from multiple nested zipfiles is not supported: %s' % args[0])
+                        raise ShapefileException('Reading from multiple nested zipfiles is not supported: %s' % path)
                     # Split into zipfile and shapefile paths
                     if path.endswith('.zip'):
                         zpath = path
@@ -1708,8 +1713,13 @@ def __init__(self, target=None, shapeType=None, autoBalance=False, **kwargs):
         self.shapeType = shapeType
         self.shp = self.shx = self.dbf = None
         if target:
+            try:
+                # Convert path-like objects to str
+                target = os.fsdecode(target)
+            except (AttributeError, TypeError):
+                pass
             if not is_string(target):
-                raise Exception('The target filepath {} must be of type str/unicode, not {}.'.format(repr(target), type(target)) )
+                raise Exception('The target filepath {} must be of type str/unicode or path-like, not {}.'.format(repr(target), type(target)) )
             self.shp = self.__getFileObj(os.path.splitext(target)[0] + '.shp')
             self.shx = self.__getFileObj(os.path.splitext(target)[0] + '.shx')
             self.dbf = self.__getFileObj(os.path.splitext(target)[0] + '.dbf')

test_shapefile.py

@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@
 """
 # std lib imports
 import os.path
+import sys
+if sys.version_info[0] >= 3:
+    from pathlib import Path
 
 # third party imports
 import pytest
@@ -12,6 +15,10 @@
 # our imports
 import shapefile
 
+
+min_py3 = pytest.mark.skipif(
+    sys.version_info[0] < 3, reason="minimum Python 3 required")
+
 # define various test shape tuples of (type, points, parts indexes, and expected geo interface output)
 geo_interface_tests = [ (shapefile.POINT, # point
                             [(1,1)],
@@ -403,6 +410,16 @@ def test_reader_shapefile_extension_ignored():
     assert not os.path.exists(filename)
 
 
+@min_py3
+def test_reader_pathlike():
+    """
+    Assert that path-like objects can be read.
+    """
+    base = Path("shapefiles")
+    with shapefile.Reader(base / "blockgroups") as sf:
+        assert len(sf) == 663
+
+
 def test_reader_filelike_dbf_only():
     """
     Assert that specifying just the
@@ -888,6 +905,20 @@ def test_write_default_shp_shx_dbf(tmpdir):
     assert os.path.exists(filename + ".dbf")
 
 
+def test_write_pathlike(tmpdir):
+    """
+    Assert that path-like objects can be written.
+    Similar to test_write_default_shp_shx_dbf.
+    """
+    filename = tmpdir.join("test")
+    assert not isinstance(filename, str)
+    with shapefile.Writer(filename) as writer:
+        writer.field('field1', 'C')
+    assert (filename + ".shp").ensure()
+    assert (filename + ".shx").ensure()
+    assert (filename + ".dbf").ensure()
+
+
 def test_write_shapefile_extension_ignored(tmpdir):
     """
     Assert that the filename's extension is