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Author tim.peters
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Date 2005-12-15.16:08:39
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This is more involved than you might like.  In general,
open(path, mode) passes the mode string to the platform C
library's file-opening function, and using anything other
than standard C mode letters ("w", "b", "r", "a", "+") is
platform-dependent.  "t" is not a standard C mode letter, so
whether it has any meaning, and exactly what it means if it
_does_ mean something, depends entirely on the platform C
library.

Using "t" to force text mode is a Microsoft-specific
gimmick, so if "t" is documented at all, it should be
plastered with warnings about its platform-specific nature.
 Even on a Microsoft platform, "t" is basically silly:  text
mode is the default mode (C defines this) -- it's what you
get if you don't pass "b".  The only reason Microsoft
supports "t" is because MS has _another_ non-standard option
to tell its C runtime to use binary mode by default, and if
you use that non-standard option then you also need to use
the non-standard "t" mode letter to force a file to open in
text mode.

In short, the docs should change to spell out what the
standard C modes are, and note that at the cost of
portability you can also pass whichever non-standard mode
extensions your platform happens to support.
History
Date User Action Args
2007-08-23 14:36:48adminlinkissue1381717 messages
2007-08-23 14:36:48admincreate