Get filepath of file in Finder

Question

I want to get the filepath of the front file in the Finder, such as /Users/user/Downloads/file.png and I am very confused with the way macOS and AppleScript handle file paths, POSIX with slashes and natively with colons. I tried both of these:

tell application "Finder"
    set temp to selection
    repeat with i from 1 to length of temp
        set the_item to item i of temp
        
        set item_posix to the_item as POSIX file
        set the_result to POSIX path of item_posix -- returns only the file's name and extension
        
        return get the path of the_item -- returns an error
    end repeat
end tell

I once succeeded and it was so convoluted with as file and as alias that I can't remember how it worked.

How can I get the filepath of the front file in the Finder?

Update: I'm interested in a single path for the sake of the syntax and I can handle multiple paths with a loop.

Answer 1

With the inuxmint-20-cinnamon-64bit.iso files selected in the Downloads folders in Finder, here are some examples:

This command:

tell application "Finder" to get selection

Result:

--> {document file "linuxmint-20-cinnamon-64bit.iso" of folder "Downloads" of folder "me" of folder "Users" of startup disk}

This command:

tell application "Finder" to get selection as alias

Result:

-> {alias "Macintosh HD:Users:me:Downloads:linuxmint-20-cinnamon-64bit.iso"}

This command:

tell application "Finder" to set aliasItemName to selection as alias

Result:

--> {alias "Macintosh HD:Users:me:Downloads:linuxmint-20-cinnamon-64bit.iso"}

These commands:

set posixPathName to POSIX path of aliasItemName
return posixPathName

Result:

"/Users/me/Downloads/linuxmint-20-cinnamon-64bit.iso"

Note that set posixPathName to POSIX path of aliasItemName is done outside of the context of Finder as it does not understand POSIX path as it's a part of Standard Additions, not Finder.