purging file buffers - to make new data be written to file

[Fernando Pérez]

> On Linux.  The program is to save a memo in a slightly organised format,
> but I find the file is not written until Python exits.

You need to call your_file_object.close() for the buffer to be written to disk 
(technically, that triggers a system write call, which is itself delayed by 
filesystem write caching. But that's a minor point).

Cheers,

f.