CMSC201

Computer Science I for Majors

Lecture 18 – String Formatting

All materials copyright UMBC and Dr. Katherine Gibson unless otherwise noted www.umbc.edu
Last Class We Covered
• Recursion
– Recursion
• Recursion
• Fibonacci Sequences
• Recursion vs Iteration

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Any Questions from Last Time?

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Today’s Objectives
• To understand the purpose of string formatting
• To examine examples of string formatting
– To learn the different type specifiers
• To briefly discuss tuples
• To learn the details of string formatting
– Alignment
– Fill characters

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Basic String Formatting

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Common Use Cases
• How can we…
– Print a float without the decimals?
Accomplishing
print( int(myFloat) ) either of these
• But what if we wanted it rounded up? would require a
lot of extra work
– Line information up into columns?
print(column1, "\t", column2)
• But what about when one thing is very long/short?

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String Formatting Possibilities
• Align text left, right, or center

• Create “padding” around information

• Choose the padding character

• Control precision of floats

– Including automatically rounding up

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Anatomy of String Formatting
string that is being printed

print("hello {:*^9}".format("world"))

name of the
details of how the method
formatting will be applied
information that
will be formatted
• This would output:
hello **world**
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Type Specifiers
• String formatting often needs to know the
exact type of the data it’s formatting
– Or at least how it should be handled

• The three specifiers are

d integer These are common
f float specifiers shared by many
languages, including
s string Python, C/C++, and Java.

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Integer Formatting Examples
>>> classNum = 201
>>> print("Welcome to {}!".format(classNum))
Welcome to 201!
If nothing is specified, no
formatting is applied

>>> print("Welcome to {:5d}!".format(classNum))

Welcome to 201!
Specifying “too many”
digits will add padding

>>> print("Welcome to {:05d}!".format(classNum))

Welcome to 00201!
Adding a zero in front will
make the padding be zeros
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Integer Formatting “Rules”
Minimum number of
Will create digits displayed
leading zeros

{ : 0 # d }
(In actual code,
Must always contain
don’t leave
the opening and closing
spaces between
curly braces, the colon,
anything.)
and the 'd' specifier.
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Float Formatting Examples
>>> midAvg = 142.86581
>>> print("The midterm average was {:2.0}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 1e+02
>>> print("The midterm average was {:2.0f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 143

Need to specify that it’s a

float to prevent truncation
>>> print("The midterm average was {:3.1f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 142.9
>>> print("The midterm average was {:1.3f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 142.866
Floats will never “lose” the
numbers before the decimal
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Float Formatting Examples
>>> midAvg = 142.86581
>>> print("The midterm average was {:15f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 142.865810
Specifying “too many”
digits will add padding
>>> print("The midterm average was {:015f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 00000142.865810
Adding a zero in front will
make the padding be zeros
>>> print("The midterm average was {:.9f}".format(midAvg))
The midterm average was 142.865810000
“Too many” digits after the
period will add trailing zeros
to the decimal (never spaces)
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Float Formatting “Rules”
Minimum number of
Will create total characters displayed
leading zeros (including ".")

{ : 0 # . # f }_
(In actual code,
don’t leave Maximum number of
spaces between digits after decimal Will automatically
round, or will pad
anything.) with trailing zeros
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String Formatting Examples
>>> best = "dogs"
>>> print("{} are the best animal".format(best))
dogs are the best animal
If nothing is specified, no
formatting is applied
>>> print("{:7s} are the best animal".format(best))
dogs are the best animal
Specifying “too many”
characters will add padding
>>> print("{:07s} are the best animal".format(best))
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module> Doesn’t work with strings!
ValueError: '=' alignment not allowed (At least, not by itself.)
in string format specifier

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String Formatting “Rules”
Minimum number of
characters displayed

{ : # s }
(In actual code,
don’t leave
spaces between
anything.)

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String Formatting on
Multiple Items

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Applying to Multiple Items
• To apply string formatting to more than one
variable (or literal) within a string, simply use
– Two sets of {} braces with formatting info
– Two items in the parentheses at the end
>>> major = "CMSC"
>>> print("Ready for {:10s} {:04d}?".format(major, 202))
Ready for CMSC 0202?

• Will be matched up based on their order

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Possible Multiple Item Errors
• If there are too many items
– Python ignores the extra ones at the end
>>> print("It's {:10s} {:2d}, {:4d}".format("April", 16, 2018, "MD"))
It's April 16, 2018

• If there are too many sets of {} braces

– Python will throw an error
>>> print("It's {:10s} {:2d}, {:4d}".format("April", 16))
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
IndexError: tuple index out of range
The what index?
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Quick Side Note: Tuples
• Tuples are a data structure nearly identical in
behavior to lists
– Lists use square brackets [ ]
– Tuples use parentheses ( )

• Tuples are immutable

– Can be indexed, sliced, concatenated, etc.
– Does not allow “in place” editing or appending

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Getting Fancy

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Alignment Options
• Can left, right, or center align with formatting:
– Left < In Python 3, left is the
– Right > default for strings, and right
– Center ^ is default for numbers

>>> print("why not {:6s}?".format("both")) # default

why not both ?
>>> print("why not {:>6s}?".format("both")) # right
why not both?
>>> print("why not {:^6s}?".format("both")) # center
why not both ?

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Padding Characters
• Default padding for strings is spaces
• Default padding for numbers is zeros

• Can replace padding with any single character

– To prevent errors, specify the alignment too

>>> print("why not {:+<6s}?".format("both"))

why not both++?
>>> print("Is this {:~^8d}?".format(currYear))
Is this ~~2018~~?

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Using Variables
• You can use variables for any of the values in
the formatting (size, padding character, etc.)
– Must use concatenation to put together
>>> c = "~"
>>> print( ("why not {:" + c + "^7d}?").format(2))
why not ~~~2~~~?

• A better way is to make the string first

>>> sentence = "why not {:" + c + "^7d}?“
>>> print(sentence.format(2))

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“Rules” for Fancy Stuff
Padding character
comes right after : Must have an alignment if
you have padding character

{ : X < otherStuff }
(In actual code,
don’t leave
spaces between All the other formatting
anything.) info comes after these two

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Example Usage of Formatting
kennel = ["Akita", "Boxer", "Collie", "Dalmatian", "Eurasier"]
for i in range(len(kennel)):
print("There is a {:>10s} in pen".format(kennel[i]), i)

– What would the outcome be here?

There is a Akita in pen 0
There is a Boxer in pen 1
There is a Collie in pen 2
There is a Dalmatian in pen 3
There is a Eurasier in pen 4

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String Formatting Exercises

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Formatting Exercises
print("My dog {}.".format("Hrabowski"))
• What formatting is needed for each outcome?
My dog Hrabowski.

My dog Hrabowski .

My dog _Hrabowski_.

My dog _Hrabowski__.

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Formatting Exercises
print("My dog {}.".format("Hrabowski"))
• What formatting is needed for each outcome?
My dog Hrabowski.
Left aligned is default,
{:>11s} so specifying isn’t
My dog Hrabowski . technically necessary.
{:<11s} {:11s}
My dog _Hrabowski_.
{:_^11s} If perfect centering isn’t
My dog _Hrabowski__. possible, the extra
{:_^12s} character goes on the right.
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More Formatting Exercises
PI = 3.1415926535897932384626433
print("Isn't {} great?".format(PI))
• What formatting is needed for each outcome?
Isn't 3.141593 great?

Isn't 3.141593 great?

Isn't 003.14 great?

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More Formatting Exercises
PI = 3.1415926535897932384626433
print("Isn't {} great?".format(PI))
• What formatting is needed for each outcome?
Isn't 3.141593 great? The default is also
{:.6f} 6 decimal values.
Isn't 3.141593 great? {:f}
{:10f}
Isn't 003.14 great? Padding numbers
{:06.2f} with zeros doesn’t
require an alignment.
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Even More Formatting Exercises
• What formatting would be generated here?
print("{:1.3f}".format(PI))

print("{:*^10s} is great!".format("Neary"))

print("It's over {:0<4d}!".format(9))

print("{:>7s} {:^^7s}".format("Hello", "world"))

32 All materials copyright UMBC and Dr. Katherine Gibson unless otherwise noted www.umbc.edu
Even More Formatting Exercises
• What formatting would be generated here?
print("{:1.3f}".format(PI))
3.142
print("{:*^10s} is great!".format("Neary"))
**Neary*** is great!
print("It's over {:0<4d}!".format(9))
It's over 9000!
print("{:>7s} {:^^7s}".format("Hello", "world"))
Hello ^world^

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• Sophie Wilson
– Designed the Acorn
Micro-Computer in 1979
• Wrote BBC BASIC, the
programming language
– Designed the instruction
set of the ARM processor
• Most widely-used
architecture in modern
smartphones
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Announcements
• Project 2 is due Friday 11/9 at 8:59:59PM

• Midterm #2 is next week!

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Image Sources
• Sophie Wilson (adapted from)
– https://www.flickr.com/photos/101251639@N02/9669448671

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