[Python-3000] String formating operations in python 3k

Wed Apr 5 05:33:36 CEST 2006

On Apr 4, 2006, at 8:12 PM, Bill Janssen wrote:
>> +1 for {} over the $/${} dichotomy -- it's easier to explain, as well
>> as more readable.
>> Perhaps I'm just allergic to bash/perl/java/ruby syntax, but the more
> I follow this discussion, the more I like the current string
> formatting system :-).
>> It seems to me that the core of the issue is the current insistence,
> with %(NAME)FORMAT, on a trailing format type which is frequently
> forgotten. Why not just remove that insistence, and use %(foo) in
> py3k? Code will break, sure, but we're going to expect that. If you
> really need to control the presentation, put that information inside
> the parens, as in %(foo:.3f). But let it default to "s".

OK on the substance, but I still prefer Greg's suggestion for simple 
bracketing (e.g., {}) to any kind of "stropped parentheses" (your % 
(...) as well as Template's ${...}).
As for the % operator, I never liked it -- either a builtin function, 
or even better a method of string objects, is going to be much more 
readable (and my preference would be to have it take optional 
positional arguments, corresponding to {1}, {2}, etc, and optional 
named arguments, corresponding to {name} &c).
Alex