[Tutor] formatting sql output

[Ivan Van Laningham]

Hi All--

Stephanie Jones wrote:
> 
> I am currently trying to format the output of a sql query using the
> techniques described in the book "Internet Programming with Python" under
> the subsection "Building an ASCII Table Generator" (pp 65-66).
> Basically, the result of the query is a tuple called "opened".  I then have,
> following the example in the book:
> 

> for x in opened:
>      list=[x[0],x[2],x[3],x[1]]
>      printstring=formatfields(list)
>      print printstring
> 
> def formatfields(list):
>         fieldsformatted=map(fieldformat15,list)
>         return string.joinfields(fieldsformatted, " | ")
> 
> def fieldformat15(field):
>         return '%-15s' % field
> 
> However, it doesn't seem to be formatting so that each "field" is 15
> characters long.  Does my question make sense, and does anyone have an idea
> why it is doing this?
> 


The format specification is incorrect.  You should use "%15.15s" or
"%-15.15s" to force left justification, in addition to padding/clipping.

<procrustean>-ly y'rs,
Ivan
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Ivan Van Laningham
Callware Technologies, Inc.
ivanlan@callware.com
http://www.pauahtun.org
See also: 
http://www.foretec.com/python/workshops/1998-11/proceedings.html
Army Signal Corps:  Cu Chi, Class of '70
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