Note that open() is the preferred way to open files (issue 1510).
diff --git a/Objects/fileobject.c b/Objects/fileobject.c
index 271f4cd..4dd5c71 100644
--- a/Objects/fileobject.c
+++ b/Objects/fileobject.c
@@ -2065,7 +2065,8 @@
"opened for writing. Add a 'b' to the mode for binary files.\n"
"Add a '+' to the mode to allow simultaneous reading and writing.\n"
"If the buffering argument is given, 0 means unbuffered, 1 means line\n"
-"buffered, and larger numbers specify the buffer size.\n"
+"buffered, and larger numbers specify the buffer size. The preferred way\n"
+"to open a file is with the builtin open() function.\n"
)
PyDoc_STR(
"Add a 'U' to mode to open the file for input with universal newline\n"