import os

def pathsplit(pathstr, maxsplit=None):
    """split relative path into list"""
    path = [pathstr]
    while True:
        oldpath = path[:]
        path[:1] = list(os.path.split(path[0]))
        if path[0] == '':
            path = path[1:]
        elif path[1] == '':
            path = path[:1] + path[2:]
        if path == oldpath:
            return path
        if maxsplit is not None and len(path) > maxsplit:
            return path

print(pathsplit('asd/asd\\asd\sad'))
print(pathsplit('d:\stuff\morestuff\furtherdown\THEFILE.txt'))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    tests = [
        '',
        'foo',
        'foo/',
        'foo\\',
        '/foo',
        '\\foo',
        'foo/bar',
        'foo/bar/',
        '/',
        'c:',
        'c:/',
        'c:foo',
        'c:/foo',
        'c:/users/john/foo.txt',
        '/users/john/foo.txt',
        'foo/bar/baz/loop',
        'foo/bar/baz/',
        '//hostname/foo/bar.txt',
        ]
    for i, test in enumerate(tests):
        print("\nTest %d: %r" % (i, test))
        a = pathsplit(test)
        print("%r" % a)