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Python Python Basics All Together Now Branch and Loop

Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points
Posted by Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points

Formatting twice in a print() statement

What do I do, if I want to format twice in a print function. For example:

name = input ('What is your name?')

num_tickets = input ('How many tickets would you like?')

print(Thank you for buying {} tickets, {})
#1st {} should be the num_tickets, 2nd {} is the name

I tried this at the start, but it popped up with an error:

print('Thank you for purchasing {} tickets, {}!'.format(num_tickets).format(name))

After some playing around with the code, I found out that this works: 

print('Thank you for purchasing {} tickets,'.format(num_tickets), '{}!'.format(name))

I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it since it takes a while to type out, and want to know if there is a simpler way to approach this.

Thanks!

3 Answers

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

.format() lets you take multiple arguments. Each argument corresponds to one particular {}.

print("Thank you for buying {} tickets, {}!".format(num_tickets, name))

By default, the first argument of format corresponds to the first {}, the second argument to the second {}, etc. But you can change the order by putting an index number in-between the {}. Using this is not very common, but for the sake of example, I'll show you:

# The below line prints "Apples and Bananas"
print("{}s and {}s".format("Apple", "Banana"))

# The below line prints "Bananas and Apples"
print("{1}s and {0}s".format("Apple", "Banana"))
Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points
Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points

So using this logic, I should be able to push out strings in any order? For example:

#This should print "Coconuts, Apples, Oranges and Bananas", right?
print('{3}s, {0}s, {2}s and {1}s'.format('Apple', 'Banana', 'Orange', 'Coconut'))
Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

Yup! :smile:

(Try out your code in the Python Shell, it should print out what you expect it to!)

Maxmillan Muchena
Maxmillan Muchena
2,478 Points

I was wondering the same( actually got stuck and had to changed my code). Thanks for that clear and great response

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

No problem :)

Henrik Christensen
seal-mask
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Henrik Christensen
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 38,322 Points
Henrik Christensen
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Henrik Christensen
Python Web Development Techdegree Student 38,322 Points

Another thing you can do is to use f-strings which (in my opinion) looks a lot cleaner :-)

name = input ('What is your name?')

num_tickets = input ('How many tickets would you like?')

print(f'Thank you for buying {num_tickets} tickets')
Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points
Kailash Seshadri
Kailash Seshadri
3,087 Points

F-strings are new to me and that looks great! Thanks!

Alexander Davison
Alexander Davison
65,469 Points

Agreed! f-strings are much nicer.

However, they are only available in Python 3.6 :grimacing:

Jennifer Nordell
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STAFF
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

Hi there! Your instincts are correct, and there is a slightly shorter way to do this. You can simply pass the variables in to the format function separated by a comma. The values will be inserted in order of the {} found in the string. Take a look:

print('Thank you for purchasing {} tickets, {}!'.format(num_tickets, name))

Hope this helps! :sparkles: