os.listdir() and follow_symlinks

[snippsat]

many functions call with a file system path can also choose whether to follow symlinks (usually the default) or not. is there a way to make this choice with os.listdir()?

os.listdir does not distinguish between regular files and symbolic links.
With os.scandir can check if an entry is a symbolic link
This allows you to manually choose whether to follow symbolic links or not.

import os

with os.scandir('path/to/directory') as it:
    for entry in it:
        if entry.is_symlink():
            print(f"{entry.name} is a symbolic link")
        else:
            print(entry.name)

Pathlib also has a resolve(returns the absolute path of the target file or directory).
Follows all levels of symlinks until it reaches the final target.

from pathlib import Path

path = Path('path/to/symlink')
if path.is_symlink():
    target_path = path.resolve()
    print(f"{path} points to {target_path}")
else:
    print(f"{symlink_path} is not a symbolic link")