def read(*parts):
    """
    Build an absolute path from *parts* and and return the contents of the
    resulting file.  Assume UTF-8 encoding.
    """
    with codecs.open(os.path.join(HERE, *parts), "rb", "utf-8") as f:
        return f.read()
def patkind(pattern, default=None):
    """If pattern is 'kind:pat' with a known kind, return kind."""
    return _patsplit(pattern, default)[0]