readline()/readlines() inconsistent?

[Greg Jorgensen]

"Carsten Gaebler" <clpy at snakefarm.org> wrote in message
news:3B482C44.6E6EB163 at snakefarm.org...

> I've just come across a strange difference between readline() and
> readlines():
>
> Python 2.1 (#17, Jun 15 2001, 15:24:30)
> [GCC 2.95.2 19991024 (release)] on linux2
> Type "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
> >>> f = open("foobar", "w")
> >>> f.readline()
> ''
> >>> f.close()
> >>>
> >>> f =  open("foobar", "w")
> >>> f.readlines()
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> IOError: [Errno 9] Bad file descriptor
> >>>
>
>
> Why does readlines() raise an exception while readline() does not? I
> expected it to return an empty list. According to the docs readlines()
> uses readline(). If I open the file "w+" everything's fine. Opinions?


The same thing happens on Windows 2000 with Python 2.1. And xreadlines gives
the same error.

Greg Jorgensen
PDXperts LLC
Portland, Oregon, USA
gregj at pdxperts.com