gh-100783: fix os.path.join documentation (#100811)

- Use "drive", not "drive letter", because of UNC paths
- Previous components are not thrown away from relative drive letters
- Use "segment" instead of "component" for consistency with pathlib
- Other miscellaneous improvements
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Shantanu 2023-01-08 00:51:30 -08:00 committed by GitHub
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@ -306,17 +306,18 @@ the :mod:`glob` module.)
.. function:: join(path, *paths)
Join one or more path components intelligently. The return value is the
concatenation of *path* and any members of *\*paths* with exactly one
directory separator following each non-empty part except the last, meaning
that the result will only end in a separator if the last part is empty. If
a component is an absolute path, all previous components are thrown away
and joining continues from the absolute path component.
Join one or more path segments intelligently. The return value is the
concatenation of *path* and all members of *\*paths*, with exactly one
directory separator following each non-empty part except the last. That is,
if the last part is empty, the result will end in a separator. If
a segment is an absolute path (which on Windows requires both a drive and a
root), then all previous segments are ignored and joining continues from the
absolute path segment.
On Windows, the drive letter is not reset when an absolute path component
(e.g., ``r'\foo'``) is encountered. If a component contains a drive
letter, all previous components are thrown away and the drive letter is
reset. Note that since there is a current directory for each drive,
On Windows, the drive is not reset when a rooted path segment (e.g.,
``r'\foo'``) is encountered. If a segment is on a different drive or is an
absolute path, all previous segments are ignored and the drive is reset. Note
that since there is a current directory for each drive,
``os.path.join("c:", "foo")`` represents a path relative to the current
directory on drive :file:`C:` (:file:`c:foo`), not :file:`c:\\foo`.