[Python-Dev] Pathlib enhancements - acceptable inputs and outputs for __fspath__ and os.fspath()

[Fred Drake]

On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 11:09 AM, Ethan Furman <ethan at stoneleaf.us> wrote:
> - a single os.fspath() with an allow_bytes parameter
>   (mostly True in os and os.path, mostly False everywhere
>   else)

-0

> - a str-only os.fspathname() and a str/bytes os.fspath()

+1 on using separate functions.

> I'm partial to the first choice as it is simplicity itself to know when
> looking at it if bytes might be coming back by the presence or absence of a
> second argument to the call; otherwise one has to keep straight in one's
> head which is str-only and which might allow bytes (I'm not very good at
> keeping similar sounding functions separate -- what's the difference between
> shutil.copy and shutil.copy2?  I have to look it up every time).

I do the same, but... this is one of those cases where a caller will
usually be passing a constant directly. If passed as a positional
argument, it'll just be confusing ("what's True?" is my usual reaction
to a Boolean positional argument). If passed as a keyword argument
with a descriptive name, it'll be longer than I'd like to see:

    path_str = os.fspath(path, allow_bytes=True)

Names like os.fspath() and os.fssyspath() seem good to me.


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.    <fred at fdrake.net>
"A storm broke loose in my mind."  --Albert Einstein