newbie

[JASON JESSO]

I'm trying to add a mode to a mkdir program a got off
the python cookbook.

The error I get is:
./mkdir.py jason 0777
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./mkdir.py", line 31, in ?
    _mkdir( sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2] )
  File "./mkdir.py", line 25, in _mkdir
    os.mkdir( newdir, mode )
TypeError: an integer is required

When I convert the mode from a string to an octal with
oct(int(sys.argv[2])) the permissions are all screwed
up.

Any help?

#!/usr/bin/env python

import sys, os

def _mkdir( newdir, mode ):
    """works the way a good mkdir should :)
        - already exists, silently complete
        - regular file in the way, raise an exception
        - parent directory(ies) does not exist, make
them as well
    """
    if os.path.isdir( newdir ):
        pass
    elif os.path.isfile( newdir ):
        raise OSError("a file with the same name as
the desired " \
                      "dir, '%s', already exists." %
newdir)
    else:
        head, tail = os.path.split( newdir )
        if head and not os.path.isdir( head ):
            _mkdir( head, mode )

        if tail:
            if mode is None:
                 os.mkdir( newdir )
            else:
                 os.mkdir( newdir, mode )

if __name__ == '__main__' :
    if len(sys.argv) < 3:
       _mkdir( sys.argv[1], None )
    else:
       _mkdir( sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2] )