if i only wanted to open the file for reading or writing, yes. the open part isn't really my hurdle so much as the if, elsif, elsif, .. else structure surrounding it which must test the file (does it exist? can i write here? is it zero bytes? is it a directory? a plaintext file? am i opening the wrong thing?)

I want to catch any possibility (at least on my platform*) and handle it responsibly.

*nix

thanks,
jamgill