Quickest way to build a long string?

[Steve Holden]

Dale Strickland-Clark wrote:
> 
> I'm building a web page (table) from a whole bunch a database fields.
> Each field needs the table row and cell tags added around it and then
> be appended to the results so far.
> 
This may be a dumb question, but why are you generating the string
instead of writing it to the output stream?  Is this what your web
server requires?

> String operations of this type tend to be memory thrashers so I was
> wondering if anyone had conducted any tests to see which of the
> approaches available might be the most efficient.
> 
> 1. multiple string concetenation. (html = html + cell)
> 2. build list of components then use join at the end to make a string
> 3. something even cleverer
> 
Well, there's also the % operator, which tends to be a bit more efficient
at constructing strings where most of the information is fixed but some
variable substitution is needed.

e.g.:

"<td><b>%s</b></td>" % (cell_contents,)

> Thanks for any info.
> Dale Strickland-Clark
> Out-Think Ltd
> Business Technology Consultants

regards
 Steve
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