string formatting

harrismh777 harrismh777 at charter.net
Fri May 6 15:22:25 EDT 2011


Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> It's perfectly safe to continue using % formatting, if you choose.
>

    I would hope so, since its the way in most of the books, much of the 
doc and a majority of the code...

    I don't really like the old style, not because there is anything 
wrong with it, because its an obvious carry-over from the cryptic 
formatting style of 'C' printf(), and others. It seems to me that the 
purpose of formatting is to make output clear, and therefore the output 
formatting style itself should be clear and clean.
    On the other hand, among the three styles listed by the OP

(1) "the %s is %s" % ('sky', 'blue')

(2) "the {0} is {1}".format('sky', 'blue')

(3) "the {} is {}".format('sky', 'blue')

     ...  they all *feel* good... I mean, they're all clear, clean, 
precise...

    On the other hand, while any 'C' programmer is able to see instantly 
that (1) is a some type of formatting construct, (2) & (3) are clear and 
obvious formatting constructs, even for newbies and esp. for non 'C' 
programmers.

    On the other hand, at this point, it seems that this is personal 
preference issue completely. So, if the book says you can do it, and 
there is no formal deprecation process in the works, feel free to 
express yourself with the style that best suits 'you'.

    On the other hand,.....       :)



kind regards,
m harris




More information about the Python-list mailing list