--- a/mercurial/byterange.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:41 2005 -0800
+++ b/mercurial/byterange.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:56 2005 -0800
@@ -361,12 +361,12 @@
                 cmd = 'RETR ' + file
                 conn = self.ftp.ntransfercmd(cmd, rest)
             except ftplib.error_perm, reason:
-                if str(reason)[:3] == '501':
+                if str(reason).startswith('501'):
                     # workaround for REST not supported error
                     fp, retrlen = self.retrfile(file, type)
                     fp = RangeableFileObject(fp, (rest,''))
                     return (fp, retrlen)
-                elif str(reason)[:3] != '550':
+                elif not str(reason).startswith('550'):
                     raise IOError, ('ftp error', reason), sys.exc_info()[2]
         if not conn:
             # Set transfer mode to ASCII!

--- a/mercurial/commands.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:41 2005 -0800
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:56 2005 -0800
@@ -606,10 +606,10 @@
             ui.debug(t,'\n')
             if t == '# HG changeset patch' or hgpatch == True:
                 hgpatch = True
-                if t[:7] == "# User ":
+                if t.startswith("# User "):
                     user = t[7:]
                     ui.debug('User: %s\n' % user)
-                if t[:2] <> "# " and t.strip() and not snippet: snippet = t
+                if not t.startswith("# ") and t.strip() and not snippet: snippet = t
         if snippet: text = snippet + '\n' + text
         ui.debug('text:\n%s\n' % text)
 
@@ -621,7 +621,7 @@
         for l in f.read().splitlines():
             l.rstrip('\r\n');
             ui.status("%s\n" % l)
-            if l[:14] == 'patching file ':
+            if l.startswith('patching file '):
                 pf = l[14:]
                 if pf not in files:
                     files.append(pf)

--- a/mercurial/hg.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:41 2005 -0800
+++ b/mercurial/hg.py	Sun Jul 10 16:14:56 2005 -0800
@@ -21,14 +21,14 @@
 
     def read(self, node):
         t = self.revision(node)
-        if t[:2] != '\1\n':
+        if not t.startswith('\1\n'):
             return t
         s = t.find('\1\n', 2)
         return t[s+2:]
 
     def readmeta(self, node):
         t = self.revision(node)
-        if t[:2] != '\1\n':
+        if not t.startswith('\1\n'):
             return t
         s = t.find('\1\n', 2)
         mt = t[2:s]
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
         return m
 
     def add(self, text, meta, transaction, link, p1=None, p2=None):
-        if meta or text[:2] == '\1\n':
+        if meta or text.startswith('\1\n'):
             mt = ""
             if meta:
                 mt = [ "%s: %s\n" % (k, v) for k,v in meta.items() ]
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@
 def opener(base):
     p = base
     def o(path, mode="r"):
-        if p[:7] == "http://":
+        if p.startswith("http://"):
             f = os.path.join(p, urllib.quote(path))
             return httprangereader.httprangereader(f)
 
@@ -465,7 +465,7 @@
 class localrepository:
     def __init__(self, ui, path=None, create=0):
         self.remote = 0
-        if path and path[:7] == "http://":
+        if path and path.startswith("http://"):
             self.remote = 1
             self.path = path
         else: