PEP8, line continuations and string formatting operations

Fri Jan 21 14:53:55 EST 2011

Style question:
PEP 8 suggests that line continuations be done by enclosing
expressions in parentheses rather than using the line continuation
character. In the same paragraph, it states a preference to put
binary operators at the end of the line to be continued, so:
x = (a +
 b)
is preferred over:
x = (a
 + b)
Fair enough.
What about string formatting operations (old style) though? The %
symbols is a binary operator between a string and the substitution
values. Strictly reading PEP 8 leads to:
my_string = ("A long string with %s substitutions that %s the line
should be %s." %
 ("many", "suggest", "continued")
 )
However, I often see the % on the continued line, immediately
preceding the substitution variables, like this:
my_string = ("A long string with %s substitutions that %s the line
should be %s."
 % ("many", "suggest", "continued")
 )
This goes against the PEP 8 guidelines, but I prefer it since it makes
the substitution variables "jump out" a bit more -- at least to me.
So....what's the general feeling about this? Adhere to the PEP 8
binary operators style, or modify it for string formatting?
-- 
Gerald Britton