[Python-Dev] [Python-3000] Patch for an initial support of bytes filename in Python3

[Bill Janssen]

Guido van Rossum <guido at python.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 8:47 AM, Bill Janssen <janssen at parc.com> wrote:
> > Victor Stinner <victor.stinner at haypocalc.com> wrote:
> >
> >>  - listdir(unicode) -> only unicode, *skip* invalid filenames
> >>    (as asked by Guido)
> >
> > Is there an option listdir(bytes) which will return *all* filenames (as
> > byte sequences)?  Otherwise, this seems troubling to me; *something*
> > should be returned for filenames which can't be represented, even if
> > it's only None.
> 
> Yes, os.listdir() becomes polymorphic -- if you pass it a pathname in
> bytes the output is in bytes and it will return everything exactly as
> the underlying syscall returns it to you.

What about everything else?  For instance, if I call
os.path.join(<bytes>, <bytes>), I presume I get back a <bytes> which can
be passed to os.listdir() to retrieve the contents of that directory.

Bill