Get the operating system’s file separator character

Summary

The separator macro returns the operating system’s file separator character used in file paths.

Syntax 

${separator}

Parameters

None - this macro takes no parameters.

Behavior

  • Returns / (forward slash) on Unix/Linux/Mac systems
  • Returns \ (backslash) on Windows systems
  • Returns the value of File.separator in Java

Examples

Get the file separator:

${separator}
# Returns: "/" on Unix, "\" on Windows

Build paths manually:

path=${basedir}${separator}src${separator}main${separator}java

Use in conditionals:

${if;${equals;${separator};/};unix;windows}

Replace separators:

${replacestring;${path};${separator};/}

Use Cases

  • Determining the platform at build time
  • Manual path construction
  • Path manipulation and normalization
  • Platform-specific logic
  • Cross-platform path handling

Notes

  • Returns a single character: / or \
  • This is the file/directory separator, not the path separator
  • Path separator (for classpath) is different - see ${pathseparator}
  • See also: ${osfile} for OS-specific path creation
  • See also: ${pathseparator} for path list separator (: or ;)

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java