In article <518b32ef$0$11120$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com>, Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote: > There is no sensible use-case for creating a file without opening it. Sure there is. Sometimes just creating the name in the file system is all you want to do. That's why, for example, the unix "touch" command exists.