Python shorthand for .format

Question

Ahead Warning! A Python newbie and quite a spoiled question ahead!

Is there a way to shorthand:

"{} blabla ... {}".format(x, y)

Into something like:

"{} blabla ... {}" % (x, y)

Using operator overloading like syntax or otherwise?

Not talking about old style string formatting which took typed %s ...

There is old-style formatting, which uses the `%` operator, but it is much less feature rich than using the `.format` method. There is also new (Python 3.6) f-strings. — juanpa.arrivillaga, Oct 19 '17 at 14:13
This answer lists the most common options: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4450610/2878796 — UnholySheep, Oct 19 '17 at 14:16
Why would you want to? You're saving 6 characters (4, if you don't skip the whitespace), and your code would easily be mistaken for an incorrect use of the real `%` string operator. — chepner, Oct 19 '17 at 14:19
chepner - The other direction is usually the problem. You put %d and got a string... — rubmz, Oct 19 '17 at 14:21

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 19 '17 at 14:16

9

Use this in Python 3.6 or above:

f"{x} blabla ... {y}"

answered Oct 19 '17 at 14:16

Dabiuteef

anupsabraham · Answer 2 · 2017-10-19T14:23:03.523

1

You can do this. But strongly advice to not do this.

fmt = str.format
print fmt("{} blabla ... {}", x, y)

fmt here is just an example.

If ever you're planning to do this, you can give whatever name you like but make sure you don't override any existing variable/function names.

edited Oct 19 '17 at 14:23

answered Oct 19 '17 at 14:19

anupsabraham

3

This is worse than you may think. `_` is the conventional name of the function used by the `gettext` module to localize strings. – chepner Oct 19 '17 at 14:19
Yeah. I was going to edit it. – anupsabraham Oct 19 '17 at 14:20
(Or, I guess, people conventionally define `_` to mean `gettext.gettext`, so there is no automatic conflict.) – chepner Oct 19 '17 at 14:21

2 Answers2