% operator - Python String formatting

January 12, 2021 3 minutes read

Note:- Python community support better ways of string formatting using the string.format() method and f-strings.

% operator

In this article, you will learn to format strings using the % operator. The % operator allows you to do simple positional formatting very easily.

Code

name = "Pylenin"
print("I am on %s website"%name)

Output

I am on Pylenin website

By using the %s format specifier, you are telling Python where to substitute the value of name.

You can also use other format specifiers that produce a different output format.

Code

name = "Pylenin"
num = 50
print("I am on %s website. It has %d blogs"% (name, num))

Output

I am on Pylenin website. It has 50 blogs

The order in which you pass the values is very important.

Let’s look at the example.

Code

print("My name is %s. I love %s"%("Pylenin", "Python"))
print("My name is %s. I love %s"%("Python", "Pylenin"))

Output

My name is Pylenin. I love Python
My name is Python. I love Pylenin

This feature of the % operator can make your code unmaintainable.

You can avoid this by using variable substitution in your strings.

Code

name = "Pylenin"
language = "Python"

print("My name is %(name)s. I love %(language)s"\
      %{"name":"Pylenin", "language":"Python"})

Output

My name is Pylenin. I love Python

Apart from %s and %d, you can also use other format specifiers.

%s - string representation

%d - Integer representation

%f - Floating point representation

%.<number of digits>f - Floating point representation
                        with a fixed amount of digits 
                        to the right of the decimal.

%e - Exponential representation

%x/%X - Integers in hex representation (lowercase/uppercase)

Let’s look at a few examples.

Code

str1 = "Pylenin"
num = 100

# String representation
print("My name is %s"%str1)

# Integer Representation
print("The number is %d"%num)

# Floating Point representation
print("Floating point representation of %s is %f"%(num, num))
print("Floating point representation of %s with precision 2 is %.2f"%(num, num))

# Exponential Representation
print("Exponential representation of %s is %e"%(num, num))
print("Exponential representation of %s with precision 2 is %.2e"%(num, num))

# Hex representation
print("Hex representation of %s is 0x%X"%(num, num))

Output

My name is Pylenin
The number is 100
Floating point representation of 100 is 100.000000
Floating point representation of 100 with precision 2 is 100.00
Exponential representation of 100 is 1.000000e+02
Exponential representation of 100 with precision 2 is 1.00e+02
Hex representation of 100 is 0x64

Python offers 3 other ways of String Formatting. Check out the definite guide to Python String Formatting

% operator

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