code: def _patch_path(path):
  	r
  	if path.startswith('\\\\?\\'):
  		return path
  	abs_path = os.path.abspath(path)
  	if not abs_path[1] == ':':
  		# python doesn't include the drive letter, but \\?\ requires it
  		abs_path = os.getcwd()[:2] + abs_path
  	return '\\\\?\\' + abs_path
docs: r"""
  	Paths have a max length of api.MAX_PATH characters (260). If a target path
  	is longer than that, it needs to be made absolute and prepended with
  	\\?\ in order to work with API calls.
  	See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa365247%28v=vs.85%29.aspx for
  	details.