SimpleUnc

On Windows, fs::canonicalize returns a path in the Win32 File Namespaces, which is prefixed by "\\?\", such as:

\\?\UNC\server\share\dir

The "\\?\" prefix has advantages such as long paths, and is fine for most modern APIs, but some programs can't handle them. PowerShell and cmd.exe are examples of such programs.

The SimpleUnc simplifies network share UNC paths so that these programs can handle, if they are currently mapped to drives.

Let's say your PC has a network share on the Z: drive:

net use Z: \\server\share

If you run the following code on this PC:

let path = r"Z:\dir\file";
let canonicalized = fs::canonicalize(path)?;
println!("{}", canonicalized.display());

prints:

\\?\UNC\server\share\dir\file

Neither PowerShell nor cmd.exe can handle this path.

With the SimpleUnc:

let path = r"Z:\dir\file";
let simplified = SimpleUnc::default().canonicalize(path)?;
println!("{}", simplified.display());

prints:

Z:\dir\file

This path works fine for PowerShell and cmd.exe.