WITH PATHLIB MODULE (UPDATED ANSWER)
One should consider using pathlib for new development. It is in the stdlib for Python3.4, but available on PyPI for earlier versions. This library provides a more object-orented method to manipulate paths <opinion>
and is much easier read and program with </opinion>
.
>>> import pathlib
>>> existGDBPath = pathlib.Path(r'T:\Data\DBDesign\DBDesign_93_v141b.mdb')
>>> wkspFldr = existGDBPath.parent
>>> print wkspFldr
Path('T:\Data\DBDesign')
WITH OS MODULE
Use the os.path module:
>>> import os
>>> existGDBPath = r'T:\Data\DBDesign\DBDesign_93_v141b.mdb'
>>> wkspFldr = os.path.dirname(existGDBPath)
>>> print wkspFldr
'T:\Data\DBDesign'
You can go ahead and assume that if you need to do some sort of filename manipulation it's already been implemented in os.path
. If not, you'll still probably need to use this module as the building block.