Issue #11827: remove mention of list2cmdline in the doc of subprocess

1 files changed, 35 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
index 425c526163..901cba1202 100644
--- a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst
@@ -100,11 +100,9 @@ This module defines one class called :class:`Popen`:
       helpful in getting code using *shell=False* to work.
 
    On Windows: the :class:`Popen` class uses CreateProcess() to execute the child
-   program, which operates on strings.  If *args* is a sequence, it will be
-   converted to a string using the :meth:`list2cmdline` method.  Please note that
-   not all MS Windows applications interpret the command line the same way:
-   :meth:`list2cmdline` is designed for applications using the same rules as the MS
-   C runtime.
+   child program, which operates on strings.  If *args* is a sequence, it will
+   be converted to a string in a manner described in
+   :ref:`converting-argument-sequence`.
 
    *bufsize*, if given, has the same meaning as the corresponding argument to the
    built-in open() function: :const:`0` means unbuffered, :const:`1` means line
@@ -616,3 +614,35 @@ shell intervention.  This usage can be replaced as follows::
 * popen2 closes all file descriptors by default, but you have to specify
   ``close_fds=True`` with :class:`Popen`.
 
+Notes
+-----
+
+.. _converting-argument-sequence:
+
+Converting an argument sequence to a string on Windows
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+On Windows, an *args* sequence is converted to a string that can be parsed
+using the following rules (which correspond to the rules used by the MS C
+runtime):
+
+1. Arguments are delimited by white space, which is either a
+   space or a tab.
+
+2. A string surrounded by double quotation marks is
+   interpreted as a single argument, regardless of white space
+   contained within.  A quoted string can be embedded in an
+   argument.
+
+3. A double quotation mark preceded by a backslash is
+   interpreted as a literal double quotation mark.
+
+4. Backslashes are interpreted literally, unless they
+   immediately precede a double quotation mark.
+
+5. If backslashes immediately precede a double quotation mark,
+   every pair of backslashes is interpreted as a literal
+   backslash.  If the number of backslashes is odd, the last
+   backslash escapes the next double quotation mark as
+   described in rule 3.
+