[Tutor] Python open of c:\ path Problem

[Martin Walsh]

Alan Gauld wrote:
> "Wayne Watson" <sierra_mtnview at sbcglobal.net> wrote
> 
>> BTW, how does one continue a long statement
>> that has, say, a long path to a file?
> 
> You can create a long string by adding the shorter string
> elements :
> 
> f = open(
> "a:/very/long/path/name/that/needs/a/whole/line/to./itself.py",
> "w")
> 
> becomes
> 
> f = open("a:/very/long/path/name/" +
>              "that/needs/a/whole/" +
>              "line/to./itself.py","w")
> 
> 
> or by using a line continuation character.
> 
> f = open("a:/very/long/path/name/" \
>              "that/needs/a/whole/" \
>              "line/to./itself.py", "w")
> 

or just

f = open("a:/very/long/path/name/"
              "that/needs/a/whole/"
              "line/to./itself.py", "w")

because of the enclosing parentheses. This works for expressions in
brackets or braces as well -- any enclosing form.

PEP8[1] suggests this as the preferred style (adding that "sometimes
using a backslash looks better"), which is a little surprising to me,
but not in a bad way. Then again, perhaps I've misunderstood -- which
would *not* be surprising.

# for those who aren't familiar
[1] http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/

HTH,
Marty