From dc5d313d66c620699a926aeefaf20bb0ec0d653e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Yochem van Rosmalen <git@yochem.nl>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 23:45:07 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix(vim.fs): joinpath() should ignore empty items #38077

Problem:
vim.fs.joinpath treats empty string as a path segment
(it adds a path separator for each empty item):

    print(vim.fs.joinpath('', 'after/lsp', '')) -- '/after/lsp/'
    print(vim.fs.joinpath('', '')) -- '/'

Especially problematic if the empty segment is the first segment, as
that converts the path to an absolute path.

Solution:
Ignore empty (length of 0) path segments.

Benchmark:

    local function test(func)
      local t = vim.uv.hrtime()
      for _ = 1, 100000, 1 do
        func('', 'this/is', 'a/very/long/path', '', 'it', 'really', 'is')
      end
      print(math.floor((vim.uv.hrtime() - t) / 1e6), 'ms')
    end

- with Iter():filter() --> 370 ms
- building new segments table --> 208 ms
- with vim.tbl_filter --> 232 ms
- Instead of gsub split on `/` in all parts --> 1870 ms
---
 runtime/doc/lua.txt             |  3 ++-
 runtime/lua/vim/fs.lua          | 19 ++++++++++++++-----
 test/functional/lua/fs_spec.lua |  6 ++++++
 3 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/runtime/doc/lua.txt b/runtime/doc/lua.txt
index 283afcc9f3..df4e078acc 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/lua.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/lua.txt
@@ -2592,10 +2592,11 @@ vim.fs.joinpath({...})                                     *vim.fs.joinpath()*
     Concatenates partial paths (one absolute or relative path followed by zero
     or more relative paths). Slashes are normalized: redundant slashes are
     removed, and (on Windows) backslashes are replaced with forward-slashes.
-    Paths are not expanded/resolved.
+    Empty segments are removed. Paths are not expanded/resolved.
 
     Examples:
     • "foo/", "/bar" => "foo/bar"
+    • "", "after/plugin" => "after/plugin"
     • Windows: "a\foo\", "\bar" => "a/foo/bar"
 
     Attributes: ~
diff --git a/runtime/lua/vim/fs.lua b/runtime/lua/vim/fs.lua
index 6e590178d2..dc26790d14 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/vim/fs.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/vim/fs.lua
@@ -116,21 +116,30 @@ end
 
 --- Concatenates partial paths (one absolute or relative path followed by zero or more relative
 --- paths). Slashes are normalized: redundant slashes are removed, and (on Windows) backslashes are
---- replaced with forward-slashes. Paths are not expanded/resolved.
+--- replaced with forward-slashes. Empty segments are removed. Paths are not expanded/resolved.
 ---
 --- Examples:
 --- - "foo/", "/bar" => "foo/bar"
+--- - "", "after/plugin" => "after/plugin"
 --- - Windows: "a\foo\", "\bar" => "a/foo/bar"
 ---
 ---@since 12
 ---@param ... string
 ---@return string
 function M.joinpath(...)
-  local path = table.concat({ ... }, '/')
-  if iswin then
-    path = path:gsub('\\', '/')
+  local n = select('#', ...)
+  ---@type string[]
+  local segments = {}
+  for i = 1, n do
+    local s = select(i, ...)
+    if s and #s > 0 then
+      segments[#segments + 1] = s
+    end
   end
-  return (path:gsub('//+', '/'))
+
+  local path = table.concat(segments, '/')
+
+  return (path:gsub(iswin and '[/\\][/\\]*' or '//+', '/'))
 end
 
 --- @class vim.fs.dir.Opts
diff --git a/test/functional/lua/fs_spec.lua b/test/functional/lua/fs_spec.lua
index 017d158584..8ffdef3566 100644
--- a/test/functional/lua/fs_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/lua/fs_spec.lua
@@ -470,6 +470,12 @@ describe('vim.fs', function()
         eq('foo/bar/baz/zub/', vim.fs.joinpath([[foo]], [[//bar////baz]], [[zub/]]))
       end
     end)
+    it('handles empty segments', function()
+      eq('foo/bar', vim.fs.joinpath('', 'foo', '', 'bar', ''))
+      eq('foo/bar', vim.fs.joinpath('', '', 'foo', 'bar', '', ''))
+      eq('', vim.fs.joinpath(''))
+      eq('', vim.fs.joinpath('', '', '', ''))
+    end)
   end)
 
   describe('normalize()', function()