.. method:: date.__format__(format)
- Same as :meth:`.date.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify format
+ Same as :meth:`.date.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify a format
string for a :class:`.date` object when using :meth:`str.format`.
See section :ref:`strftime-strptime-behavior`.
.. method:: datetime.__format__(format)
- Same as :meth:`.datetime.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify format
+ Same as :meth:`.datetime.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify a format
string for a :class:`.datetime` object when using :meth:`str.format`.
See section :ref:`strftime-strptime-behavior`.
.. method:: time.__format__(format)
- Same as :meth:`.time.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify format string
+ Same as :meth:`.time.strftime`. This makes it possible to specify a format string
for a :class:`.time` object when using :meth:`str.format`.
See section :ref:`strftime-strptime-behavior`.
the current presentation context (direct and indirect containers for *object*
that are affecting the presentation) as the keys; if an object needs to be
presented which is already represented in *context*, the third return value
- should be ``True``. Recursive calls to the :meth:`format` method should add
+ should be ``True``. Recursive calls to the :meth:`.format` method should add
additional entries for containers to this dictionary. The third argument,
*maxlevels*, gives the requested limit to recursion; this will be ``0`` if there
is no requested limit. This argument should be passed unmodified to recursive
.. _new-string-formatting:
-String Formatting
------------------
+Custom String Formatting
+------------------------
.. versionadded:: 2.6
:meth:`str.format` method described in :pep:`3101`. The :class:`Formatter`
class in the :mod:`string` module allows you to create and customize your own
string formatting behaviors using the same implementation as the built-in
-:meth:`format` method.
+:meth:`~str.format` method.
.. class:: Formatter
.. method:: format(format_string, *args, **kwargs)
- :meth:`format` is the primary API method. It takes a format string and
+ The primary API method. It takes a format string and
an arbitrary set of positional and keyword arguments.
- :meth:`format` is just a wrapper that calls :meth:`vformat`.
+ It is just a wrapper that calls :meth:`vformat`.
.. method:: vformat(format_string, args, kwargs)
described in the next section.
A *format_spec* field can also include nested replacement fields within it.
-These nested replacement fields can contain only a field name; conversion flags
-and format specifications are not allowed. The replacement fields within the
+These nested replacement fields may contain a field name, conversion flag
+and format specification, but deeper nesting is
+not allowed. The replacement fields within the
format_spec are substituted before the *format_spec* string is interpreted.
This allows the formatting of a value to be dynamically specified.
If a valid *align* value is specified, it can be preceded by a *fill*
character that can be any character and defaults to a space if omitted.
-Note that it is not possible to use ``{`` and ``}`` as *fill* char while
-using the :meth:`str.format` method; this limitation however doesn't
+It is not possible to use a literal curly brace ("``{``" or "``}``") as
+the *fill* character when using the :meth:`str.format`
+method. However, it is possible to insert a curly brace
+with a nested replacement field. This limitation doesn't
affect the :func:`format` function.
The meaning of the various alignment options is as follows:
Format examples
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-This section contains examples of the new format syntax and comparison with
-the old ``%``-formatting.
+This section contains examples of the :meth:`str.format` syntax and
+comparison with the old ``%``-formatting.
In most of the cases the syntax is similar to the old ``%``-formatting, with the
addition of the ``{}`` and with ``:`` used instead of ``%``.
howto/pyporting,,::,Programming Language :: Python :: 3
howto/regex,,::,
howto/regex,,:foo,(?:foo)
-howto/urllib2,,:example,"for example ""joe@password:example.com"""
+howto/urllib2,,:password,"for example ""joe:password@example.com"""
library/audioop,,:ipos,"# factor = audioop.findfactor(in_test[ipos*2:ipos*2+len(out_test)],"
library/bisect,,:hi,all(val >= x for val in a[i:hi])
library/bisect,,:hi,all(val > x for val in a[i:hi])
Both strings and Unicode strings support a large number of methods for
basic transformations and searching.
- :ref:`new-string-formatting`
- Information about string formatting with :meth:`str.format` is described
- here.
+ :ref:`formatstrings`
+ Information about string formatting with :meth:`str.format`.
:ref:`string-formatting`
The old formatting operations invoked when strings and Unicode strings are