diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/library/os.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Doc/library/os.rst | 16 |
1 files changed, 10 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst index 80955af..2fb8cd6 100644 --- a/Doc/library/os.rst +++ b/Doc/library/os.rst @@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ process and user. File Object Creation -------------------- -These functions create new file objects. (See also :func:`open`.) +These functions create new :term:`file objects <file object>`. (See also :func:`open`.) .. function:: fdopen(fd[, mode[, bufsize]]) @@ -436,6 +436,10 @@ process will then be assigned 3, 4, 5, and so forth. The name "file descriptor" is slightly deceptive; on Unix platforms, sockets and pipes are also referenced by file descriptors. +The :meth:`~file.fileno` method can be used to obtain the file descriptor +associated with a :term:`file object` when required. Note that using the file +descriptor directly will bypass the file object methods, ignoring aspects such +as internal buffering of data. .. function:: close(fd) @@ -550,9 +554,9 @@ by file descriptors. Force write of file with filedescriptor *fd* to disk. On Unix, this calls the native :cfunc:`fsync` function; on Windows, the MS :cfunc:`_commit` function. - If you're starting with a Python file object *f*, first do ``f.flush()``, and - then do ``os.fsync(f.fileno())``, to ensure that all internal buffers associated - with *f* are written to disk. + If you're starting with a buffered Python :term:`file object` *f*, first do + ``f.flush()``, and then do ``os.fsync(f.fileno())``, to ensure that all internal + buffers associated with *f* are written to disk. Availability: Unix, and Windows. @@ -609,9 +613,9 @@ by file descriptors. .. note:: This function is intended for low-level I/O. For normal usage, use the - built-in function :func:`open`, which returns a "file object" with + built-in function :func:`open`, which returns a :term:`file object` with :meth:`~file.read` and :meth:`~file.wprite` methods (and many more). To - wrap a file descriptor in a "file object", use :func:`fdopen`. + wrap a file descriptor in a file object, use :func:`fdopen`. .. function:: openpty() |