[Python-3000] print() parameters in py3k

[Guido van Rossum]

On 11/19/06, James Thiele <python3now at gmail.com> wrote:
> The BDFL has said that print will change from a statement to a function in
> Python 3.
>
> I haven't found anything describing what parameters it will take and what it
> will return. Has this been decided?

Not really, I'm hoping someone would write a PEP. But (from memory, I
think there are some threads on python-dev or the py3k list about
this) here are some suggestions:

1. With only positional parameters (or none at all), print(x, y, z) is
equivalent to "print x, y, z" today. So it converts each argument
using str(), inserting spaces in between, and appending a newline.

2. A keyword parameter will direct it to a different file.
Probably print(x, y, z, file=<file-like object>).

3. Two more keyword parameters can change what gets inserted between
items and at the end.
Perhaps print(x, y, z, sep=<string>, end=<string>). These default to "
" and "\n", respectively.

4. The softspace feature (a semi-secret attribute on files currently
used to tell print whether to insert a space before the first item)
will be killed.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)