[ python-Bugs-1739115 ] shutil.rmtree's error message is confusing

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Bugs item #1739115, was opened at 2007-06-18 16:41
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Category: None
Group: None
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Private: No
Submitted By: Björn Lindqvist (sonderblade)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: shutil.rmtree's error message is confusing

Initial Comment:
If you run shutil.rmtree(something) on Windows where something is file and not a directory, you get the following exception:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "C:\Python25\Lib\shutil.py", line 161, in rmtree
    onerror(os.listdir, path, sys.exc_info())
  File "C:\Python25\Lib\shutil.py", line 159, in rmtree
    names = os.listdir(path)
WindowsError: [Error 22] The directory name is invalid: 'foobar/*.*'

The error message is pretty confusing and it shouldn't be to hard to fix it. Plus, if it shouldn't be possible to remove files with shutil.rmtree(), then the docs should say so.

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