sys.stdout vs. sys.stderr

[Nobody]

On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:09:36 +0100, Martin v. Loewis wrote:

>> In Python 3.1 is there any difference in the buffering behavior of the
>> initial sys.stdout and sys.stderr streams?
> 
> No.
> 
>> Were they different at some earlier point in Python's evolution?
> 
> That depends on the operating system. These used to be whatever the
> C library set up as stdout and stderr. Typically, they were buffered
> in the same way.

On Unix, stdout will be line buffered if it is associated with a tty 
and fully buffered otherwise, while stderr is always unbuffered.

On Windows, stdout and stderr are unbuffered if they refer to a character
device, fully buffered otherwise (Windows doesn't have line buffering;
setvbuf(_IOLBF) is equivalent to setvbuf(_IOFBF)).

ANSI C says:

 As initially opened, the standard error stream is not fully buffered; the
 standard input and standard output streams are fully buffered if and only
 if the  stream can be determined not to refer to an interactive device.