[Python-Dev] A wart which should have been repaired in 3.0?

[skip at pobox.com]

>>>>> "skip" == skip  <skip at pobox.com> writes:

    Martin> I don't think any change is necessary. os.path.commonprefix
    Martin> works just fine on path components:

    skip> Ummm...

    >>> os.path.commonprefix(["/export/home", "/etc/passwd"])
    '/e'

    skip> I suppose that's correct given the defined behavior of the
    skip> function, but it certainly doesn't seem to be very path-like to
    skip> me.

I should also point out that most people will not have the foresight to use
it the way Martin demonstrated.  Documentation or not, I'll be a fair
fraction of all usage assumes the return value represents a valid path.

    Martin> Of course, using it that way would require a library function
    Martin> that reliably splits a path into components; I think one would
    Martin> have to do abspath on arbitrary inputs.

Kinda what I think os.path.split ought to do.  Should I tackle that next?
;-)

Skip