jupyterlab_drag_and_drop_path_extension

Drag a file or folder from the file browser and drop it onto a terminal, Python file, or notebook to insert its path - no copy-pasting, no typing.

Features

• Drop onto a terminal - inserts the path as a shell-escaped argument and brings the terminal tab to the foreground
• Drop onto a Python file or notebook code cell - inserts a quoted string literal, or a pathlib expression joined with the / operator (e.g. pathlib.Path('/home/me') / 'data' / 'file.csv')
• Drop onto a notebook - the path lands at the active cell's current cursor position
• Absolute or relative paths - configurable; relative is computed against the terminal's working directory or the open document's directory
• Multi-file safety - drags carrying more than one item are ignored
• Master on/off switch - disable the extension without uninstalling

Usage

1. Open a target alongside the file browser - a terminal, a Python file, or a notebook
2. Drag a single file or folder from the file browser onto the target
3. The path is inserted - shell-escaped in terminals, as a quoted string or a pathlib.Path(...) expression in Python contexts, or as plain text elsewhere

In notebooks the path lands at the active cell's current cursor position. Whether the path is absolute or relative, and how Python output is formatted, is controlled by the settings below.

Settings

Configure under Settings -> Drag and Drop Path:

• enabled - master on/off (default true)
• pathType - absolute or relative (default relative)
• pythonPathStyle - posix for a quoted string literal, pathlib for a Path(...) expression (default posix)
• pathlibConstructor - pathlib.Path or Path, used when pythonPathStyle is pathlib (default pathlib.Path)

Requirements

• JupyterLab >= 4.0.0

Install

To install the extension, execute:

pip install jupyterlab_drag_and_drop_path_extension

Uninstall

To remove the extension, execute:

pip uninstall jupyterlab_drag_and_drop_path_extension

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Paul Romer for the inspiration and the discussions about reducing user friction when working with hierarchical folder structures in JupyterLab.