text_combined: guido van rossum hoaufpythonorg need retract ospopen mode flag indicates reading writing also specifies text vs binary ospopen r return text stream ospopen rb return binary stream subprocess module similar options though default geared towards binary still think ospopen reimplemented top subprocess add optional flags open function grown indicate encoding buffering think complex variants popen2 popen3 popen4 probably go away since easy enough using subprocess module serious api design mistakes confusing reversal input output cases guido mon apr 21 2008 1030 guido van rossum wrote imo ospopen wrong sat apr 12 2008 433 pm tim heaney wrote python 30 seems ospopen yields string whereas subprocesspopen yields bytes python python 30a4 r30a462119 apr 12 2008 181516 gcc 413 20070929 prerelease ubuntu 41216ubuntu2 linux2 type help copyright credits license information import os subprocess ospopendatereadline sat apr 12 190805 edt 2008n subprocesspopendate stdoutsubprocesspipecommunicate0 bsat apr 12 190813 edt 2008n intentional expect thanks tim _______________________________________________ python3000 mailing list smsbmo9552pythonorg httpmailpythonorgmailmanlistinfopython3000 unsubscribe httpmailpythonorgmailmanoptionspython3000guido40pythonorg guido van rossum home page httpwwwpythonorgguido guido van rossum home page httpwwwpythonorgguido _______________________________________________ python3000 mailing list smsbmo9552pythonorg httpmailpythonorgmailmanlistinfopython3000 unsubscribe httpmailpythonorgmailmanoptionspython3000python300040tangomucom thu 07 aug 2008 151501 0700 python3000 ospopen versus subprocesspopen