A Guide to Modern Python String Formatting Tools

Creating F-String Literals

Here you’ll take a look at how you can create an f-string by prepending the string literal with an f or F:

Using either f or F has the same effect. However, it’s a more common practice to use a lowercase f to create f-strings.

Just like with regular string literals, you can use single, double, or triple quotes to define an f-string:

Up to this point, your f-strings look pretty much the same as regular strings. However, if you create f-strings like those in the examples above, you’ll get complaints from your code linter if you have one.

The remarkable feature of f-strings is that you can embed Python variables or expressions directly inside them. To insert the variable or expression, you must use a replacement field, which you create using a pair of curly braces.

Interpolating Variables Into F-Strings

The variable that you insert in a replacement field is evaluated and converted to its string representation. The result is interpolated into the original string at the replacement field’s location:

In this example, you’ve interpolated the site variable into your string. Note that Python treats anything outside the curly braces as a regular string.

Also, keep in mind that Python retrieves the value of site when it runs the string literal, so if site isn’t defined at that time, then you get a NameError exception. Therefore, f-strings are appropriate for eager string interpolation.

Now that you’ve learned how to embed a variable into an f-string, you can look into embedding Python expressions into your f-string literals.

Embedding Expressions in F-Strings

You can embed almost any Python expression in an f-string, including arithmetic, Boolean, and conditional expressions. You can also include function calls, attribute access, common sequence operations like indexing and slicing, and more.

Here’s an example that uses an arithmetic operation:

The expressions that you embed in an f-string can be almost arbitrarily complex. The examples below show some of the possibilities.

You can also do indexing and slicing on sequences and look up keys in dictionaries:

In this example, the first two embedded expressions run indexing and slicing operations in a list. The last expression runs a dictionary key lookup.

To include curly braces in an f-string, you need to escape it by doubling it:

In this example, the outer pair of curly braces tells Python to treat the inner braces as literal characters rather than part of the expression so they can appear in the resulting string.

Positional Arguments With Manual Field Specification

To interpolate values into a string template using .format(), you can use positional arguments in the method call. You can then use integer indices to determine which replacement field to insert each value into:

In this example, template_string is the string "{0} {1} cost ${2}", which includes three replacement fields. The replacement fields {0}, {1}, and {2} contain numbers that correspond to the zero-based positional arguments 6, "bananas", and 1.74 * 6. Each positional argument is inserted into the template according to its index.

The following diagram shows the complete process:

The arguments to .format() are inserted into the string template in the corresponding position. The first argument goes into the replacement field with index 0, the second argument goes into the replacement field with index 1, and so on.

It’s important to note that the indices don’t have to follow a strict consecutive order or be unique in the template. This allows you to customize the position of each argument in the final string.

Here’s a toy example:

When you specify a replacement field number that’s out of range, you’ll get an error. In the following example, the positional arguments are numbered 0, 1, and 2, but you specify {3} in the template:

This call to .format() raises an IndexError exception because index 3 is out of range.

Positional Arguments With Automatic Field Numbering

You can also omit the indices in the replacement fields, in which case Python will assume a sequential order. This is referred to as automatic field numbering:

In this example, you’ve removed the indices from your template. In this situation, Python inserts every argument into the replacement field following the same order you used in the call to .format().

When you specify automatic field numbering, you must provide at least as many arguments as there are replacement fields.

Here’s a toy example with four replacement fields and only three arguments:

In this example, you have four replacement fields in the template but only three arguments in the call to .format(). So, you get an IndexError exception.

Finally, it’s fine if the arguments outnumber the replacement fields. The excess arguments aren’t used:

Here, Python ignores the "baz" argument and builds the final string using only "foo" and "bar".

Note that you can’t mix these two techniques:

When you use Python to format strings with positional arguments, you must choose between either automatic or explicit replacement field numbering.

Keyword Arguments and Named Fields

You can also use keyword arguments instead of positional argument to produce the same result:

In this case, the replacement fields are {quantity}, {item}, and {cost}. These fields specify keywords corresponding to the keyword arguments quantity=6, item="bananas", and cost=1.74 * 6. Each keyword value is inserted into the template in place of its corresponding replacement field by name.

Keyword arguments are inserted into the template string in place of keyword replacement fields with the same name:

In this example, the values of the keyword arguments x, y, and z take the place of the replacement fields {x}, {y}, and {z}, respectively.

If you refer to a keyword argument that’s missing, then you’ll get an error:

In this example, you specify the {w} replacement field, but no corresponding keyword argument is named w in the call to .format(), so Python raises a KeyError exception.

You can specify keyword arguments in any arbitrary order:

In the first example, the replacement fields are in alphabetical order and the arguments aren’t. In the second example, it’s the other way around.

You can specify positional and keyword arguments in one .format() call. In this case, all of the positional arguments must appear before any of the keyword arguments:

The requirement that all positional arguments appear before any keyword arguments doesn’t only apply to the .format() method. This is generally true for any function or method call in Python.

In all the examples so far, the values you passed to .format() have been literal values, but you can specify variables as well:

In this example, you pass the variables x and y as positional arguments and z as a keyword argument.

The conversion Component

The conversion component defines the function to use when converting the input value into a string. Python can do this conversion using built-in functions like the following:

• str() provides a user-friendly string representation.
• repr() provides a developer-friendly string representation.

By default, both f-strings and the .format() method use str(). However, in some situations, you may want to use repr(). You can do this with the conversion component of a replacement field.

The possible values for conversion are shown in the table below:

To illustrate the difference between these two values, consider the following Person class:

This class implements the special methods .__str__() and .__repr__(), which internally support the built-in str() and repr() functions.

Now consider how this class works in the context of f-strings and the .format() method:

When you use the !s value for the conversion component, you get the user-friendly string representation of the interpolated object. Similarly, when you use the !r value, you get the developer-friendly string representation.

The format_spec Component

The format_spec component is the last portion of a replacement field. This component represents the guts of Python’s string formatting functionality. It contains information that exerts fine control over how to format the input values before inserting them into the template string.

The BNF notation that describes the syntax of this component is shown below:

The components of format_spec are listed in order in the following table:

In the following section, you’ll learn how these components work in practice and how you can use them to format your strings either with f-string literals or with the .format() method.

The type Component

To kick things off, you’ll start with the type component, which is the final portion of a format_spec. The type component specifies the presentation type, which is the type of conversion that’s performed on the corresponding value to produce the output.

The possible values for type are described below:

The first presentation type you have is b, which designates binary integer conversion:

In these examples, you use the b conversion type to represent the decimal number 257 as a binary number.

The c presentation type allows you to convert an input integer into its associated Unicode character:

As shown above, you can convert a given integer value into its associated Unicode character with the c presentation type. Note that you can use the built-in chr() function to confirm the conversion.

The g conversion type chooses either floating-point or exponential output, depending on the magnitude of the exponent:

The exact rules governing the choice might seem slightly complicated. Generally, you can trust that the choice will make sense.

The G conversion type is identical to g except for when the output is exponential, in which case the "E" will be displayed in uppercase:

The result is the same as in the previous example, but this time with an uppercase "E".

You’ll find a couple of other situations where you’ll see a difference between the g and G presentation types. For example, under some circumstances, a floating-point operation can result in a value that’s essentially infinite. The string representation of such a number in Python is "inf".

A floating-point operation may also produce a value that can’t be represented as a number. Python represents this value with the string "NaN", which stands for Not a Number.

When you pass these values to an f-string or the .format() method, the g presentation type produces lowercase output, and G produces uppercase output:

You’ll see similar behavior with the f and F presentation types. For more information on floating-point representation, inf, and NaN, check out the Wikipedia page on IEEE 754.

To learn more about other representation types, take a look at the Converting Between Type Representations section of Python’s Format Mini-Language for Tidy Strings.

The width Component

The width component specifies the minimum width of the output field:

Note that this is a minimum field width. Suppose you specify a value that’s longer than the minimum:

In this example, width is effectively ignored and the final string displays the input value as is.

The align and fill Components

The align and fill components allow you to control how the formatted output is padded and positioned within the specified field width. These components only make a difference when the input value doesn’t occupy the entire field width, which can only happen if a minimum field width is specified. If width isn’t specified, then align and fill are effectively ignored.

Here are the possible values for the align subcomponent:

A format specifier that uses the less than sign (<) indicates that the output will be left-justified:

Aligning the value to the left is the default behavior with strings like "Hi".

A format specifier that uses the greater than sign (>) indicates that the output will be right-justified:

Aligning to the right is the default behavior for numeric values like 123.

A format specifier that uses a caret (^) indicates that the output will be centered in the output field:

With the caret character, you can center the input value in the output field.

Finally, you can specify a value for the align component using the equal sign (=) . This sign only has meaning for numeric values with signs included. When numeric output includes a sign, it’s normally placed directly to the left of the first digit in the number:

In these examples, you’ve used the sign component, which you’ll learn about in detail in the next section.

If you set align to the equal sign (=), then the sign appears at the left of the output field:

As you can see, the sign now appears on the left and the padding is added in between the sign and the number.

The fill component allows you to replace the extra space when the input value doesn’t completely fill the output width. It can be any character except for curly braces ({}).

Some examples of using fill are shown below:

Keep in mind that if you specify a value for fill, then you should also include a value for align.

The sign Component

You can control whether a sign appears in numeric output with the sign component of your format specifiers. In the following example, the plus sign (+) indicates that the value should always display a leading sign:

In these examples, you use the plus sign to always include a leading sign for both positive and negative values.

If you use the minus sign (-), then only negative numeric values will include a leading sign:

The - sign lets you display the sign when the input value is negative. If the input value is positive, then no sign is displayed.

Finally, you can also use a space (" ") for the sign component. A space means that a sign is included for negative values and a space character for positive values. To make this behavior evident in the example below, you use an asterisk as the fill character:

As you can see in these examples, positive values include a space rather than a plus sign. On the other hand, negative values include the actual minus sign.

The # Component

When you include a hash character (#) in the format_spec component, Python will select an alternate output form for certain presentation types. For binary (b), octal (o), and hexadecimal (x) presentation types, the hash character causes the inclusion of an explicit base indicator to the left of the value:

The base indicators are 0b, 0o, and 0x for binary, octal, and hexadecimal representations, respectively.

For floating-point (f or F) and exponential (e or E) presentation types, the hash character forces the output to contain a decimal point, even if the input consists of a whole number:

For any presentation type other than those covered above, the hash character (#) has no effect.

The 0 Component

If the output is smaller than the indicated field width and you start the format_spec component with a zero (0), then the input value will be padded on the left with zeros instead of space characters:

You’ll typically use the 0 component for numeric values, as shown above. However, it works for string values as well:

If you specify both fill and align, then fill overrides the 0 component:

The fill and 0 components essentially control the same thing, so there isn’t any need to specify both at the same time. In practice, 0 is superfluous and was probably included as a convenience for developers who are familiar with the string modulo operator’s similar 0 conversion flag.

The grouping_option Component

The grouping_option component allows you to include a grouping separator character in numeric outputs. For decimal and floating-point presentation types, grouping_option may be either a comma (,) or an underscore (_). That character then separates each group of three digits in the output:

In these examples, you’ve used a comma and an underscore as thousand separators for integer and floating-point values.

Setting the grouping_option component to an underscore (_) may also be useful with the binary, octal, and hexadecimal presentation types. In those cases, each group of four digits is separated by an underscore character in the output:

If you try to specify grouping_option with any presentation type other than those listed above, then your code will raise an exception.

The precision Component

The precision component specifies the number of digits after the decimal point for floating-point presentation types:

In these examples, you use different precision values to display the output number. The precision is separated from the width by a literal dot (.).

For string representation types, precision specifies the maximum width of the output:

If the input value is longer than the specified precision value, then the output will be truncated.