I found an old thread on Python-Dev that suggested replacing the error "TypeError: expected a character buffer object" with something more helpful for non-experts like "expected a string or character buffer". Here's the thread: http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2006-May/065301.html I think this is an excellent idea, but besides this ticket: http://bugs.python.org/issue6780 I haven't seen anything further about it. Does anyone know the status on this? It would be nice to have a more descriptive error. Aditya -- wefoundland.com