Is there a way to format one string multiple times in Python?

Question

I have a string like this:

my_string = '{general_setting} ... {specific_setting}'

The general_setting is the same for the whole program (i.e. database password), whereas the specific_setting can vary throughout the program. Is there a way to format one string twice, first inserting the general_setting and then having a pre-prepared string to insert the specific_setting later?

I'm sure this must have been asked before, but all I could find were questions about how to insert the same VALUE multiple times, not about how to insert different values at different times.

can you provide a minimal reproducible example?

Gsk
– Gsk

2018-08-07 13:00:51 +00:00
Commented Aug 7, 2018 at 13:00 — Gsk
– Gsk, Commented Aug 7, 2018 at 13:00

Sunitha · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 12:54:39Z

17

You can have any level of formatting depending on the number of braces

>>> template = '{general_setting} ... {{specific_setting}}'.format(general_setting='general')
>>> my_string = template.format(specific_setting='specific')
>>> print (my_string)
general ... specific

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 12:54

Sunitha

12.1k2 gold badges23 silver badges23 bronze badges

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

Comments

relet · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-07 13:04:43Z

8

Alternatively, you can use the solution proposed in python format string unused named arguments:

class SafeDict(dict):
    def __missing__(self, key):
        return '{' + key + '}'

then:

>>> '{bond}, {james} {bond}'.format_map(SafeDict(bond='bond'))

returns:

'bond, {james} bond'

answered Aug 7, 2018 at 13:04

relet

7,0472 gold badges35 silver badges42 bronze badges

Comments

Christian Vincenzo Traina · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-08 10:12:57Z

4

Some additions to @Sunitha answer, the first time formatting is {}, second is {{}}, the third time is not {{{}}}, but it is {{{{}}}}.

Four curly braces, because every time you format, the curly braces will be reduced for every place.

edited Jan 8, 2019 at 10:12

Christian Vincenzo Traina

10.6k4 gold badges46 silver badges79 bronze badges

answered Jan 8, 2019 at 6:40

thouger

4353 silver badges9 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Is there a way to format one string multiple times in Python?

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related