python format string with tabs and new line

Question

I am trying to format a string where the same variable sometimes needs to be appended with new line and tab and other times not.

I don't see any other options but using two different variables, do you think this could be achieved using the same variable?

Example String The actual string is long, and I have may variables which sometimes requires no formatting and sometimes require to appned either new line and tab.

test_str="""
list {values} 
list
    {values} 
"""

for above I want to achieve following output.

list 1,2,3 
list
    1,
    2,
    3

the current approach, which is not working.

values = ",".join(["1","2","3"])
print test_str.format(values=values)

if I change the values to values1 and values2 then I can apply different formatting.

values1 = ",".join(["1","2","3"])
values2 = ",\n\t".join(["1","2","3"])
print test_str.format(values1=values1, values2=values2)

Bill Bell · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-02 16:11:55Z

4

This might be what you want.

>>> test_str = '''
... list {}
... list
...     {}
... '''
>>> values
['1', '2', '3']
>>> print(test_str.format(','.join(values), ',\n\t'.join(values)))

list 1,2,3
list
    1,
    2,
    3

Addendum:

Notice that the function creates the string that it returns in the form of a new-fangled f string, thus allowing the possibility of substitution of the values returned by functions or other expressions within it.

>>> def a_string(v1, v2):
...     def f1(val):
...         return '---'+val
...     def f2(val):
...         return '+++'+val
...     return f'''{f1(v1)} is bigger than {f2(v2)}'''
... 
>>> a_string('2', '1')
'---2 is bigger than +++1'

edited Mar 2, 2018 at 16:11

answered Mar 2, 2018 at 4:40

Bill Bell

21.7k6 gold badges48 silver badges62 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Gaurang Shah Over a year ago

is there any way I can do with the keyword argument, rather than positional argument. I have to replace lots of parameters not just two in actual string.

Bill Bell Over a year ago

I'm not sure that this will meet your purposes. I've added code that uses the f strings that were made available with Python 3.6.

Frederic · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-02 03:27:56Z

-1

You could use a function to make it possible to use only one set of values as follow

test_str="""
list {values1} 
list
\t{values2} 
"""

def test_format(values):
    values1 = ",".join(values)
    values2 = ",\n\t".join(values)
    return test_str.format(values1=values1, values2=values2)

print test_format(["1", "2", "3"])

answered Mar 2, 2018 at 3:27

Frederic

1,91818 silver badges18 bronze badges

1 Comment

Gaurang Shah Over a year ago

question is about using one set of variable. not one set of values. it's hardcoded right now, only coz it's code snippet and not actual code.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

python format string with tabs and new line

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related