Emulate a printf() C-statement in Python???

[John Machin]

On Mar 19, 11:52 pm, Chris Rebert <c... at rebertia.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 5:43 AM, Mr. Z <no... at xspambellsouth.net> wrote:
> > I'm trying emulate a printf() c statement that does, for example
>
> > char* name="Chris";
> > int age=30;
> > printf("My name is %s", name);
> > printf("My name is %s and I am %d years old.", %s, %d);
>
> > In other words, printf() has a variable arguement list the we
> > all know.
>
> > I'm trying to do this in Python...
>
> > class MyPrintf(object):
> >    # blah, blah
> >     def myprintf(object, *arg):
> >          # Here I'll have to know I NEED 2 arguments in format string
> > arg[0]
> >          print arg[0] % (arg[1], arg[2])
>
> > name="Chris"
> > age=30
> > printf=MyPrintf()
> > printf.myPrintf(("My name is %s and I am %d years old.", name, age)
> > will of course print...
> > My name is Chris and I am 42 years old.
>
> > But
> > printf.myPrintf(("My name is %s.", name)
> > of course gives....
> > Index error: list index out of range
>
> > How can I generalize the print call in the myprintf() function to do this?
>
> > print arg[0] % (arg[1])
> > print arg[0] % (arg[1], arg[2])
> > print arg[0] % (arg[1], ..., arg[n])
>
> def printf(format, *args):
>     print format % args

The OP asked for an emulation of printf(), which doesn't have
softspacing and other party tricks.

> Although I fail to see the point in doing this. All you're doing is
> trading the use of the % operator for a function call.

It is one of those things that it is good to know, perhaps not so good
to practice ... somewhat akin to the English definition of a Scots
gentleman: "A man who can play the bagpipes but doesn't".

Cheers,
John