Rebinding stdout (was: Re: Python! Is! Truly! Amazing!)

[Just]

In article <87u0py6elt.fsf at sme.intra.citec.fi>,
 Simo Melenius <firstname.lastname at iki.fi-spam> wrote:

> I've sometimes replaced sys.stdout (and/or sys.stderr) to
> capture/redirect debugging information in existing code that has
> unwisely just "print"ed error and warning messages, instead of using
> sys.stderr or error logging modules.
> 
> py> def with_output_to_string (func):
> ...     try:
> ...         sys.stdout = StringIO.StringIO ()
> ...         func ()
> ...         return sys.stdout.getvalue ()
> ...     finally:
> ...         sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__

Aargh, I can't believe how widespread this idiom is :-(. See my other 
reply in this thread: DON'T use sys.__stdout__. Ever.

Just