I'm against syntax for this, for all the reasons stated by others. Jerry Chen wrote:
Just one last note: I think my end goal here was to preserve the visual clarity and separation between format string and format parameters, as I much prefer:
"%s %s %s" % (1, 2, 3)
over
"{0} {1} {2}".format(1, 2, 3)
If it helps, in 3.1 and 2.7 this can be written as "{} {} {}".format(1, 2, 3) I'm not sure it helps for "visual clarity", but it definitely makes the typing easier for simple uses.
The former is a style I've grown accustomed to, and if % is indeed being slated for removal in Python 3.2, then I will miss it sorely (or... just get over it).
I've basically come to accept that %-formatting can never go away, unfortunately. There are too many places where %-formatting is used, for example in logging Formatters. %-formatting either has to exist or it has to be emulated. Although if anyone has any suggestions for migrating uses like that, I'm interested. Eric.