diff --git a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
index 09ae62b..10747e6 100644
--- a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
@@ -457,21 +457,21 @@
 
 ::
 
-   pipe = os.popen(cmd, 'r', bufsize)
+   pipe = os.popen("cmd", 'r', bufsize)
    ==>
-   pipe = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdout=PIPE).stdout
+   pipe = Popen("cmd", shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdout=PIPE).stdout
 
 ::
 
-   pipe = os.popen(cmd, 'w', bufsize)
+   pipe = os.popen("cmd", 'w', bufsize)
    ==>
-   pipe = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdin=PIPE).stdin
+   pipe = Popen("cmd", shell=True, bufsize=bufsize, stdin=PIPE).stdin
 
 ::
 
-   (child_stdin, child_stdout) = os.popen2(cmd, mode, bufsize)
+   (child_stdin, child_stdout) = os.popen2("cmd", mode, bufsize)
    ==>
-   p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
+   p = Popen("cmd", shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
              stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, close_fds=True)
    (child_stdin, child_stdout) = (p.stdin, p.stdout)
 
@@ -479,9 +479,9 @@
 
    (child_stdin,
     child_stdout,
-    child_stderr) = os.popen3(cmd, mode, bufsize)
+    child_stderr) = os.popen3("cmd", mode, bufsize)
    ==>
-   p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
+   p = Popen("cmd", shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
              stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, close_fds=True)
    (child_stdin,
     child_stdout,
@@ -489,21 +489,33 @@
 
 ::
 
-   (child_stdin, child_stdout_and_stderr) = os.popen4(cmd, mode, bufsize)
+   (child_stdin, child_stdout_and_stderr) = os.popen4("cmd", mode,
+                                                      bufsize)
    ==>
-   p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
+   p = Popen("cmd", shell=True, bufsize=bufsize,
              stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT, close_fds=True)
    (child_stdin, child_stdout_and_stderr) = (p.stdin, p.stdout)
 
+On Unix, os.popen2, os.popen3 and os.popen4 also accept a sequence as
+the command to execute, in which case arguments will be passed
+directly to the program without shell intervention.  This usage can be
+replaced as follows::
+
+   (child_stdin, child_stdout) = os.popen2(["/bin/ls", "-l"], mode,
+                                           bufsize)
+   ==>
+   p = Popen(["/bin/ls", "-l"], bufsize=bufsize, stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE)
+   (child_stdin, child_stdout) = (p.stdin, p.stdout)
+
 Return code handling translates as follows::
 
-   pipe = os.popen(cmd, 'w')
+   pipe = os.popen("cmd", 'w')
    ...
    rc = pipe.close()
-   if  rc != None and rc % 256:
+   if rc != None and rc % 256:
        print "There were some errors"
    ==>
-   process = Popen(cmd, 'w', stdin=PIPE)
+   process = Popen("cmd", 'w', shell=True, stdin=PIPE)
    ...
    process.stdin.close()
    if process.wait() != 0:
@@ -513,11 +525,6 @@
 Replacing functions from the :mod:`popen2` module
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-.. note::
-
-   If the cmd argument to popen2 functions is a string, the command is executed
-   through /bin/sh.  If it is a list, the command is directly executed.
-
 ::
 
    (child_stdout, child_stdin) = popen2.popen2("somestring", bufsize, mode)
@@ -526,9 +533,12 @@
              stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, close_fds=True)
    (child_stdout, child_stdin) = (p.stdout, p.stdin)
 
-::
+On Unix, popen2 also accepts a sequence as the command to execute, in
+which case arguments will be passed directly to the program without
+shell intervention.  This usage can be replaced as follows::
 
-   (child_stdout, child_stdin) = popen2.popen2(["mycmd", "myarg"], bufsize, mode)
+   (child_stdout, child_stdin) = popen2.popen2(["mycmd", "myarg"], bufsize,
+                                               mode)
    ==>
    p = Popen(["mycmd", "myarg"], bufsize=bufsize,
              stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, close_fds=True)