import os
 
def validate_path(path, working_path="."):
    real_working_path = os.path.realpath(working_path)
    real_user_path = os.path.realpath(path)
    working_parts = real_working_path.split(os.path.sep)
    user_parts = real_user_path.split(os.path.sep)
    return (len(user_parts) >= len(working_parts) and
            all(wp == up for wp, up in zip(working_parts, user_parts)))
 
print validate_path("")
print validate_path(".")
print validate_path("tst")
print validate_path("tst/../")
print validate_path("/tmp/asdf", "/tmp")
print validate_path("/tmp/asdf/../", "/tmp")
print
print validate_path("../")
print validate_path("tst/../../")
print validate_path("/etc/passwd")
print validate_path(r"c:\windows")
print validate_path("/tmp1/asdf", "/tmp")
print validate_path("/tmp/../", "/tmp")