confusion about opening files

[robie1373]

Cool! Thanks so much! I think I'm actually starting to get it!

"Erik Max Francis" <max at alcyone.com> wrote in message
news:3D8FD2F3.81F3831C at alcyone.com...
> 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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