SVG Path Objects and Parser

7.0 · active · verified Sat Apr 11

svg.path is a collection of objects that implement the different path commands in SVG, and a parser for SVG path definitions. It provides classes for various path segments (Line, Arc, CubicBezier, QuadraticBezier) and a `Path` object to collect them. As of version 7.0, it's actively maintained and frequently updated to reflect improvements and address edge cases in SVG path parsing.

Warnings

breaking In version 7.0, the `Move` class was reclassified as a `PathSegment` for type annotation consistency. If you were using `isinstance()` to check for drawing commands (i.e., expecting `Move` *not* to be a `PathSegment`), your code will break.
Fix: Adjust `isinstance()` checks to explicitly exclude `Move` segments if only drawing commands are desired (e.g., `isinstance(segment, PathSegment) and not isinstance(segment, Move)`).
breaking In version 4.0, the `Path` object no longer has a `closed` attribute.
Fix: Review code that accessed `path.closed`. If the intention was to check for a `Close` command at the end of a subpath, you might need to iterate through segments or reconsider the logic based on the SVG specification.
gotcha For `CubicBezier` and `Arc` segments, setting `min_depth` to 0 (the recursion depth for approximation) can lead to inaccurate representations, especially for `CubicBezier` where it might approximate to a straight line. The default value is 5.
Fix: Avoid setting `min_depth=0` for `CubicBezier` and `Arc` unless a simplified, possibly linear, approximation is explicitly desired. Use the default or a higher value for accuracy.
gotcha SVG path data can use implicit commands (e.g., `M 10 20 30 40` implies `M 10 20 L 30 40`). The parser handles this correctly, but developers should be aware of this SVG specification detail when constructing or debugging path strings manually.
Fix: Be mindful of SVG path syntax rules, especially for sequential commands where the command letter might be omitted. The `parse_path` function correctly interprets these implicit commands.

Install

pip install svg.path Install latest version

Imports

Path
```
from svg.path import Path
```
Line
```
from svg.path import Line
```
Arc
```
from svg.path import Arc
```
CubicBezier
```
from svg.path import CubicBezier
```
QuadraticBezier
```
from svg.path import QuadraticBezier
```
Close
```
from svg.path import Close
```
parse_path
```
from svg.path import parse_path
```

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to parse an SVG path string into a Path object and iterate through its segments. It also shows how to construct a path programmatically using segment objects like Line and Arc. Note that `svg.path` uses complex numbers for coordinates.

from svg.path import parse_path, Path, Line, Arc
import cmath # For complex numbers used by svg.path

# Parse an SVG path string
path_data = "M 10 10 L 100 10 L 50 50 Z"
path = parse_path(path_data)

print(f"Path has {len(path)} segments.")
for i, segment in enumerate(path):
    print(f"Segment {i}: {type(segment).__name__} from {segment.start} to {segment.end}")
    # Example: Get a point along the segment
    if hasattr(segment, 'point'):
        mid_point = segment.point(0.5)
        print(f"  Midpoint: ({mid_point.real:.2f}, {mid_point.imag:.2f})")

# Construct a path programmatically
p = Path([
    Line(start=cmath.rect(1, cmath.pi/2), end=cmath.rect(10, cmath.pi/2)), # Example using complex numbers
    Line(start=(10+0j), end=(10+50j)),
    Arc(start=(10+50j), radius=(20,20), rotation=0, large_arc=True, sweep=True, end=(30+70j))
])
print(f"\nProgrammatic path has {len(p)} segments.")

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