[Python-Dev] Issue 6081: format string using mapping rather than kwargs

[Eric Smith]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> Filip Gruszczyński wrote:
>> I would appreciate any advice on this topic, even if this ticket would
>> be dismissed altogether, as I would like to learn as much as possible
>> on practices on developing Python.
> 
> Raymond's use case is valid, but the currently proposed method name is
> way too long to be usable and the use of *args is a definite misfeature.
> 
> I suggest approaching the issue with the exact spec needed to cover the
> problem Raymond described:
> 
>    Add a method to strings that allows a format string to
>    be applied to an existing mapping without implicitly
>    converting the mapping to a dict first.

It occurs to me that Raymond's use case could be satisfied using 
existing Python, by slightly changing the format string. After all, 
str.format() supports mapping lookup already:

$ ./python.exe
Python 2.6.5+ (release26-maint:79421, Mar 25 2010, 08:51:39)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646) (dot 1)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
 >>> class Default(dict):
...  def __missing__(self, key):
...   return key
...
 >>> s = '{m[name]} was born in {m[country]}'
 >>> s.format(m=Default(name='Guido'))
'Guido was born in country'
 >>>

Considering that, maybe the best thing is to do nothing. I'll update the 
issue with this note.

-- 
Eric.