ENH: fix to enable to pass Path objects longer than a filename as output_file

Author: bsipocz

CHANGES.rst

@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ cadc
 
 - Deprecated keywords and ``run_query`` method have been removed. [#2389]
 
+- Added the ability to pass longer that filename Path objects as
+  ``output_file``. [#2541]
+
 casda
 ^^^^^
 

astroquery/cadc/core.py

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import warnings
 import requests
 from numpy import ma
+from pathlib import Path
 from urllib.parse import urlencode
 from urllib.error import HTTPError
 
@@ -587,7 +588,7 @@ def exec_sync(self, query, maxrec=None, uploads=None, output_file=None,
             the maximum records to return. defaults to the service default
         uploads :
             Temporary tables to upload and run with the queries
-        output_file : str or file handler
+        output_file : str, Path, or file handler
             File to save the results to
         output_format :
             Format of the output (default is basic). Must be one
@@ -608,10 +609,13 @@ def exec_sync(self, query, maxrec=None, uploads=None, output_file=None,
         if output_file:
             if isinstance(output_file, str):
                 fname = output_file
+            elif isinstance(output_file, Path):
+                # Merge this case into the str once astropy is >=5.1
+                fname = str(output_file)
             elif hasattr(output_file, 'name'):
                 fname = output_file.name
             else:
-                raise AttributeError('Not a valid file name or file handler')
+                raise AttributeError('Not a valid file name, Path, or file handler')
             result.write(fname, format=output_format, overwrite=True)
         return result
 

astroquery/cadc/tests/test_cadctap.py

@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import os
 import sys
-from pathlib import Path
 
 from astropy.table import Table as AstroTable
 from astropy.io.fits.hdu.hdulist import HDUList