confusion about opening files

[Erik Max Francis]

robie1373 wrote:

> O. K. Now I am confused.  I thought that when I imported the os
> module, i
> would have to call its functions like this: os.open()    Why am I just
> using
> the function name?

Because there are two different open functions here.  One is in the
builtins, one is in the os module.  They are not the same:

>>> import os  
>>> print open.__doc__
file(name[, mode[, buffering]]) -> file object

Open a file.  The mode can be 'r', 'w' or 'a' for reading (default),
writing or appending.  The file will be created if it doesn't exist
when opened for writing or appending; it will be truncated when
opened for writing.  Add a 'b' to the mode for binary files.
Add a '+' to the mode to allow simultaneous reading and writing.
If the buffering argument is given, 0 means unbuffered, 1 means line
buffered, and larger numbers specify the buffer size.
Note:  open() is an alias for file().

>>> print os.open.__doc__
open(filename, flag [, mode=0777]) -> fd
Open a file (for low level IO).

The os.open is a low-level API and is rarely going to be the one you
want.

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