Bugs item #1381717, was opened at 2005-12-15 10:37 Message generated for change (Comment added) made by tim_one You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=1381717&group_id=5470
Please note that this message will contain a full copy of the comment thread, including the initial issue submission, for this request, not just the latest update. Category: Documentation Group: None Status: Open Resolution: None Priority: 5 Submitted By: Simo Salminen (ssalmine) Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody) Summary: mode 't' not documented as posssible mode for file built-in Initial Comment: At http://docs.python.org/lib/built-in-funcs.html, 'file' function parameter 'mode' accepts 't' (for text mode). This is not documented. It is mentioned in file object description (http://docs.python.org/lib/bltin-file-objects.html). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Comment By: Tim Peters (tim_one) Date: 2005-12-15 11:08 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=31435 This is more involved than you might like. In general, open(path, mode) passes the mode string to the platform C library's file-opening function, and using anything other than standard C mode letters ("w", "b", "r", "a", "+") is platform-dependent. "t" is not a standard C mode letter, so whether it has any meaning, and exactly what it means if it _does_ mean something, depends entirely on the platform C library. Using "t" to force text mode is a Microsoft-specific gimmick, so if "t" is documented at all, it should be plastered with warnings about its platform-specific nature. Even on a Microsoft platform, "t" is basically silly: text mode is the default mode (C defines this) -- it's what you get if you don't pass "b". The only reason Microsoft supports "t" is because MS has _another_ non-standard option to tell its C runtime to use binary mode by default, and if you use that non-standard option then you also need to use the non-standard "t" mode letter to force a file to open in text mode. In short, the docs should change to spell out what the standard C modes are, and note that at the cost of portability you can also pass whichever non-standard mode extensions your platform happens to support. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=105470&aid=1381717&group_id=5470 _______________________________________________ Python-bugs-list mailing list Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-bugs-list/archive%40mail-archive.com
