print with variable justification (with *)

[tom]

John Machin wrote:
> tom wrote:
>   
>> Why Tea wrote:
>>     
>>> print format % values
>>> An optional minimum width of the conversion, specified using one or
>>> more digits or an asterisk (*), which means that the width is taken
>>> from the next item in values
>>>
>>> That's from one of O'reilly's books. But there is no example and I
>>> couldn't get it to work by trials and errors. Does anyone have a
>>> working example?
>>>
>>> /Why Tea
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> value = 3.141592654
>> print "%1.3f" % value
>>     
>
> Please consider reading the subject of a message occasionally :)
>   

Sorry bout that !

> | >>> value = 3.141592654
> | >>> print "%1.3f" % value
> | 3.142
> | >>> print "%10.3f" % value
> |      3.142
> | >>> print "%*.3f" % (1, value)
> | 3.142
> | >>> print "%*.3f" % (10, value)
> |      3.142
> | >>> for n in range(11):
> | ...     print "%*.3f" % (n, value)
> | ...
> | 3.142
> | 3.142
> | 3.142
> | 3.142
> | 3.142
> | 3.142
> |  3.142
> |   3.142
> |    3.142
> |     3.142
> |      3.142
> | >>>
>   
>> there you go :)
>>     
>
> There *you* go :)
>
>   
>>  look at printf in c for general ideas about the format
>> specifiers
>>     
>
> Unfortunately this is about the same advice as given by the official
> Python tutorial:
>
> """Most formats work exactly as in C [snip] Using * to pass the width
> or precision in as a separate (integer) argument is supported"""
>
> Not quite so many folks come to Python with a background in C these
> days. Is anyone aware of a tutorial that covers % formatting from a
> standing start?
>
>   
If you're on a unix system you can probably do `man fprintf`, but it 
will mean wading through a lot of stuff you're no interested in.  This 
has a good little section on it though, specifically for python

http://rgruet.free.fr/PQR24/PQR2.4.html

> Cheers,
> John
>
>