VS Code extension: How to convert workspace folder uri path to filesystem path?

I have a Visual Studio Code extension I'm writing that uses the workspace folder path (File > Open Folder) to determine the base directory to run shell commands from. I can get the path from vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri.path, but it causes problems when I use it with fs.readdir() because it's repeating the drive letter at the beginning.

Error: ENOENT: no such file or directory, scandir 'C:\c:\Users\Dave\Desktop\ESP Labs'

Notice the extra C:

I would like to find a way to convert the URI path to a suitable filesystem path that will work with fs.readdir(). I tried url.fileURLToPath() but it didn't work and actually caused the extension to stop functioning until I commented out the console.debug line where I tried to display the result.

There's also a property called vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri._fspath This does what I want, but I'm thinking the underscore indicates the property is private and should not be used directly.

So my question is this...

Is there a method to convert uri.path to a filesystem path or should I just forget about it and use uri._fspath?

The code:

/*
*  Copy entire project directory to remote flash file system. 
*/
let syncCommand = vscode.commands.registerCommand('mpremote.sync', async () => {
if (!vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders || vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders.length != 1) {
vscode.window.showErrorMessage('Unable to sync. Open a folder first.')
}
else {
console.debug('vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0]', vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0])
console.debug('uri._fsPath:', vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri._fsPath)
//console.debug('url.fileURLToPath:', url.fileURLToPath(vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri.path))
let projectRoot = vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri._fsPath
console.debug('Project folder path:', projectRoot)
let port = await getDevicePort()
term.sendText(`cd '${projectRoot}'`)
fs.readdir(projectRoot, { withFileTypes: true }, (err, entries) => {
if (err) {
console.error(err)
vscode.window.showErrorMessage('Unable to read directory.')
}
else {
console.debug('Directory entries found:', entries.length)
entries.forEach(entry => {
console.debug('Examining directory entry:', entry)
if (entry.isDirectory()) {
if (SYNC_IGNORE.includes(entry.name)) {
console.debug('Skipping directory:', entry.name)
}
else {
term.sendText(`${PYTHON_BIN} -m mpremote connect ${port} fs cp -r ${entry.name} :`)
}
}
else {
term.sendText(`${PYTHON_BIN} -m mpremote connect ${port} fs cp ${entry.name} :`)
}
})
}
})
}	
})

Debug output showing available uri properties:

vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0] {uri: v, name: 'ESP Labs', index: 0}
vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0] {
uri: v {
scheme: 'file',
authority: '',
path: '/c:/Users/Dave/Desktop/ESP Labs',
query: '',
fragment: '',
_formatted: 'file:///c%3A/Users/Dave/Desktop/ESP%20Labs',
_fsPath: 'c:\\Users\\Dave\\Desktop\\ESP Labs'
},
name: 'ESP Labs',
index: 0
}
uri._fsPath: c:\Users\Dave\Desktop\ESP Labs
Project folder path: c:\Users\Dave\Desktop\ESP Labs

Well, there is a
vscode.workspace.workspaceFolders[0].uri.fsPath property you could use - note no underscore. It returns the same thing as the _fsPath property.

See vscode api docs: Uri.