Python 3.x Custom function chaining with an existing PATHLIB library Path() object

Question

I have defined a custom function based on pathlib module in my Python (3.x) script:

def mk_dir(self):
    self.mkdir(parents=True,exist_ok=True)

my_path = Path('./1/2/3/')
mk_dir(my_path)

as a shorthand to create a new directory with pathlib.Path.mkdir() function.

This function will create any missing parents of the given path (parents=True) and will not raise an error if the directory already exists (exist_ok=True).

However, I would like to modify my function so it would operate as a chained function, i.e., my_path.mk_dir(); instead of the traditional method by passing a variable, i.e., mk_dir(my_path).

I tried it the following way:

from pathlib import Path

class Path():
    def mk_dir(self):
        self.mkdir(parents=True,exist_ok=True)
        return self

my_path = Path('./1/2/3/')
my_path.mk_dir()

but the best I am getting is this error:

AttributeError: 'WindowsPath' object has no attribute 'mk_dir'

How can one achieve this without changing the module source file itself?

And I am uncertain about these questions:

1. Does class need to be defined?
2. Does the function need to return anything?
3. And, is it a better practice to check first if the directory exists by if not my_path.is_dir(): ... or it is "okay" to use the exist_ok=True attribute?
   • I could not conclude this myself, but a related question is here:
   • How can I safely create a nested directory in Python?