[New-bugs-announce] [issue20686] Confusing statement

[Daniel U. Thibault]

New submission from Daniel U. Thibault:

Near the end of 3.1.3 http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/introduction.html#unicode-strings you can read:

"When a Unicode string is printed, written to a file, or converted with str(), conversion takes place using this default encoding."

This can be interpreted as stating that stating that printing a Unicode string (using the print function or the shell's default print behaviour) results in ASCII printout.  It can likewise be interpreted as stating that any write of a Unicode string to a file converts the string to ASCII.  Experimentation shows this is not true.  Perhaps you meant something like this:

"When a Unicode string is converted with str() in order to be printed or written to a file, conversion takes place using this default encoding."

Grammatical comments: In the statement "When a Unicode string is printed, written to a file, or converted with str(), conversion takes place using this default encoding.", the ", or" puts the three elements of the enumeration on the same level (respectively "printed", "written to a file", and "converted with str()"). The confusion seems to arise because "with str()" was meant to apply to the list as a whole, not just its last element.

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assignee: docs at python
components: Documentation
messages: 211627
nosy: Daniel.U..Thibault, docs at python
priority: normal
severity: normal
status: open
title: Confusing statement
type: enhancement

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Python tracker <report at bugs.python.org>
<http://bugs.python.org/issue20686>
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