[Python-Dev] [maintenance doc updates]

[Patrick K. O'Brien]

On Friday 15 November 2002 06:59 pm, Fred L. Drake wrote:
> The maintenance version of the documentation has been updated:
>
>     http://www.python.org/dev/doc/maint22/
>
> Small updates.
> Add embarrassing note about sneaky feeping creaturism:
> The "chars" argument to str.strip(), .lstrip(), and .rstrip(), as
> well as the str.zfill() method, were all added in Python 2.2.2!
> Woe to over-eager backporters!

The string module docstrings for lstrip and rstrip need updating as well 
then. It looks like only strip has been updated so far. And it would be 
good if this argument was called the same thing in the string type as 
in the string module. The one calls it `sep` and the other `chars`. In 
fact, the docstring for string.strip mixes the two:

def strip(s, chars=None):
    """strip(s [,chars]) -> string

    Return a copy of the string s with leading and trailing
    whitespace removed.
    If chars is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.
    If chars is unicode, S will be converted to unicode before 
stripping.

    """
    return s.strip(chars)

The docstring for the type still calls it `sep`, as does lstrip and 
rstrip:

PyDoc_STRVAR(strip__doc__,
"S.strip([sep]) -> string or unicode\n\
\n\
Return a copy of the string S with leading and trailing\n\
whitespace removed.\n\
If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
If sep is unicode, S will be converted to unicode before stripping");

It looks like the documentation is consistent in calling it `chars`, but 
the implementation is lagging behind.

-- 
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech      http://www.orbtech.com/web/pobrien
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