Get the operating system’s path separator character

Summary

The pathseparator macro returns the operating system’s path separator character used to separate entries in path lists like classpaths.

Syntax 

${pathseparator}

Parameters

None - this macro takes no parameters.

Behavior

  • Returns : (colon) on Unix/Linux/Mac systems
  • Returns ; (semicolon) on Windows systems
  • Returns the value of File.pathSeparator in Java

Examples

Get the path separator:

${pathseparator}
# Returns: ":" on Unix, ";" on Windows

Build a path manually:

classpath=lib/a.jar${pathseparator}lib/b.jar${pathseparator}lib/c.jar

Use in conditionals:

${if;${equals;${pathseparator};:};unix;windows}

Split paths:

${split;${pathseparator};${some.path}}

Use Cases

  • Determining the platform at build time
  • Manual path construction
  • Splitting path strings
  • Platform-specific logic
  • Cross-platform path handling
  • Tool configuration

Notes

  • Returns a single character: : or ;
  • This is different from the file separator (/ or \)
  • Used for separating multiple paths (like in CLASSPATH)
  • See also: ${separator} for the file separator
  • See also: ${path} which automatically uses the correct separator
  • The path separator is determined by the OS running the build

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java