Python: Get relative path from comparing two absolute paths

Question

Say, I have two absolute paths. I need to check if the location referring to by one of the paths is a descendant of the other. If true, I need to find out the relative path

Answer 1

os.path.relpath:

Return a relative filepath to path either from the current directory or from an optional start point.

>>> from os.path import relpath
>>> relpath('/usr/var/log/', '/usr/var')
'log'
>>> relpath('/usr/var/log/', '/usr/var/sad/')
'../log'

So, if relative path starts with '..' - it means that the second path is not descendant of the first path.

In Python3 you can use PurePath.relative_to:

Python 3.5.1 (default, Jan 22 2016, 08:54:32)
>>> from pathlib import Path

>>> Path('/usr/var/log').relative_to('/usr/var/log/')
PosixPath('.')

>>> Path('/usr/var/log').relative_to('/usr/var/')
PosixPath('log')

>>> Path('/usr/var/log').relative_to('/etc/')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 1, in 
  File "/usr/local/Cellar/python3/3.5.1/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/lib/python3.5/pathlib.py", line 851, in relative_to
    .format(str(self), str(formatted)))
ValueError: '/usr/var/log' does not start with '/etc'