Navigating the File System: Path Manipulation in Go

The path/filepath package in Go is essential for writing portable code that interacts with the file system. It provides functions for manipulating file paths in a way that works correctly across different operating systems (like Windows, macOS, and Linux), which often have different path separators and conventions. This challenge will test your understanding of these fundamental path operations.

Problem Description

Your task is to implement a Go program that takes a series of file path components and a base directory, and then constructs a canonical, absolute path. You will need to handle different path separators and ensure the resulting path is clean and properly formatted for the target operating system.

What needs to be achieved:

1. Given a slice of strings representing path components (e.g., ["users", "hone", "documents", "..", "downloads"]).
2. Given a base directory string (e.g., /home/hone).
3. Combine these into a single, absolute, and cleaned file path.

Key requirements:

• Use the path/filepath package for all path manipulations.
• The function should return a single string representing the final, absolute, and cleaned path.
• The path should be normalized, meaning redundant separators (like //) and self-referential segments (like ./) are removed, and parent directory references (like ..) are resolved.
• The function should correctly handle the operating system's native path separator.

Expected behavior: The program should take the base directory and append the path components to it, resolving any . or .. segments, and ensuring the final path is absolute.

Important edge cases to consider:

• Empty path components slice.
• Path components that are just . or ...
• A base directory that is already absolute or relative.
• Path components that might lead the path outside the initial base directory context (e.g., ..).

Examples

Example 1:

Input:
baseDir: "/home/hone"
components: ["documents", "projects", "go-challenge"]

Output: "/home/hone/documents/projects/go-challenge"

Explanation: The components are simply joined to the base directory. The `filepath.Join` function handles adding the correct separator.

Example 2:

Input:
baseDir: "/home/hone"
components: ["documents", "..", "downloads", "report.txt"]

Output: "/home/hone/downloads/report.txt"

Explanation: The ".." component in `components` effectively navigates up one directory from "documents", then joins "downloads" and "report.txt". `filepath.Clean` would typically handle this resolution.

Example 3: (Cross-OS Consideration)

Input:
baseDir: "C:\\Users\\Hone"
components: ["Desktop", "..", "Documents", "Notes.md"]

Output: "C:\\Users\\Documents\\Notes.md"

Explanation: On Windows, the separator is `\`. The ".." resolves correctly, and the output reflects the Windows path format. If running this on Linux/macOS, `filepath.Join` and `filepath.Clean` would use `/` as the separator.

Constraints

• The baseDir will be a valid string representing a directory path.
• The components slice will contain strings that are valid path segments.
• The output path should be at most 2048 characters long.
• Your solution must only use functions from the path/filepath package for path manipulation.

Notes

Consider how filepath.Join and filepath.Clean can be used together to achieve the desired result. Think about the order in which you might apply these functions to ensure both joining and normalization occur correctly. Remember that Go's path/filepath package is designed to abstract away OS-specific path conventions.