code: def path(value,
           allow_empty = False,
           **kwargs):
      
      if not value and not allow_empty:
          raise errors.EmptyValueError('value (%s) was empty' % value)
      elif not value:
          return None
  
      if hasattr(os, 'PathLike'):
          if not isinstance(value, (str, bytes, int, os.PathLike)):                    # pylint: disable=E1101
              raise errors.NotPathlikeError('value (%s) is path-like' % value)
      else:
          if not isinstance(value, int):
              try:
                  os.path.exists(value)
              except TypeError:
                  raise errors.NotPathlikeError('value (%s) is not path-like' % value)
  
      return value
docs: Validate that ``value`` is a valid path-like object.
  
      :param value: The value to validate.
  
      :param allow_empty: If ``True``, returns :obj:`None <python:None>` if
        ``value`` is empty. If ``False``, raises a
        :class:`EmptyValueError <validator_collection.errors.EmptyValueError>`
        if ``value`` is empty. Defaults to ``False``.
      :type allow_empty: :class:`bool <python:bool>`
  
      :returns: The path represented by ``value``.
      :rtype: Path-like object / :obj:`None <python:None>`
  
      :raises EmptyValueError: if ``allow_empty`` is ``False`` and ``value`` is empty
      :raises NotPathlikeError: if ``value`` is not a valid path-like object