Greg> I would *really* like to be able to write this as Greg> "create index %{table}_lid1_idx on %{table}(%{lid1})" % params Greg> which I find to be much easier on the eyes. What if lid1 is a float which you want to display with two digits past the decimal point? I think we've been around the block on this one a few times. While %{foo} might be a convenient shorthand for %(foo)s, I don't think it saves enough space (one character) or stands out that much more ("{...}" instead of "(...)s") to make the addition worthwhile. In addition, you'd have to retain the current construct in cases where something other than simple string interpolation was required, in which case you also have the problem of having two almost identical ways to do dictionary interpolation. Skip