Why exception from os.path.exists()?

[Antoon Pardon]

On 11-06-18 02:28, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Jun 2018 22:09:39 +0100, Barry Scott wrote:
>
>> Singling out os.path.exists as a special case I do think is reasonable.
>> All functions that take paths need to have a consistent response to data
> The *mere existence* of os.path.exists means that there is not a 
> consistent response to file names:
>
>     open(foo) raises an exception if foo doesn't exist;
>
>     os.path.exists(foo) returns False if foo doesn't exist.

That is not correct. The path can exist and os.path.exists still return False.

> There is no requirement that different functions do the same thing with 
> the same bad input. The *whole point* of o.p.exists is to return False, 
> not raise an exception.

And the price is that it will not always give the correct answer.

-- 
Antoon Pardon.