[Python] Python os.path.relpath behavior

I have a directory bar inside a directory foo, with file foo_file.txt in directory foo and file bar_file.txt in directory bar; i.e.

computer$ ls
foo/
computer$ ls foo/
bar/ foo_file.txt
computer$ ls foo/bar/
bar_file.txt


Using the python os.path.relpath function, I expect:

os.path.relpath('foo/bar/bar_file.txt', 'foo/foo_file.txt')


to give me:

'bar/bar_file.txt'


However, it actually gives me:

'../bar/bar_file.txt'


Why is this? Is there an easy way to get the behavior I want?

EDIT: This is on Linux with Python 2.7.3

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