I think Skip wrote:

Yes, but has others have pointed out, the current documentation seems to suggest that file() is preferred to open().

While you're at it, the docstring for open could use the same treatment. In 2.3.2, it starts with: "file(name[, mode[, buffering]])" and ends with "open() is an alias for file()." The first implies that file() is preferred, in my mind. Robert Brewer MIS Amor Ministries fumanchu@amor.org