The print statement has gone. A function replaces it in Python 3.0. Apart from the other changes, this one probably needs the most mind and finger retraining, cause its something I use a lot while fiddling with the interpreter.
So far, till Python 2.6
So this is how you all have been happily typing away in Python 2.x:
print "Print this and print a newline"
print "Print this, but not a newline",
Now, if you had a collection of elements you wanted to print with certain formatting, say with punctuation, here’s how you would do it:
basket = ('Apple', 'Oranges', 'Banana')
print ", ".join(basket) + "."
# Which produces the output:
"Apple, Oranges, Banana."
About the print() function in Python 3.0
Some would even prefer to use a logical loop instead, for readability’s sake. But this method does require a string operation to happen, and loops probably would take up lines, or worse, in certain cases.
Now, in Python 3.0 onwards
The print statement has gone for good and the print() function comes in.
This decision is well explained in the PEP (Python Enhancement Proposals) and the specific paper on it can be found here (Numbered 3105)
Digging into this function’s documentation would reveal all about it in simple text (If you are an avid reader of the Python Documentation). Of what’s continued here is all just for newbies-only, with some demonstrations.
A simple demo equivalent to the first as above:
print ("Print this line, and print a newline")
print ("Print this line, but not a newline", end="")
You might notice that its got a little complex here, with a keyword argument being supplied instead of an ending comma as before.
But lets see the full power of this new print() function by doing the same punctuation to the fruit basket as before:
basket = ('Apple', 'Oranges', 'Banana')
print (*basket, sep=", ", end=".\n")
# Which produces the same output as desired:
"Apple, Oranges, Banana."
We do the same thing as before, except that we don’t require a loop, nor string operations. The function’s two keyword arguments sep and end handle the complex jobs for us. Basically, this is what they mean:
- sep – Seperator string – Defines the string that is to be placed between every two values printed.
- end – Ender string – Defines the string to be printed at the end of the print function.
By default, sep has a space (‘ ‘) and end is a newline (‘ \n ‘). So a simple signature of this new print function would be like:
print ( [object(s)], sep=' ', end='\n' )
And finally, the Star of this show
The one last addition to the print function made by the Python team was the file keyword argument. That’s right, one more keyword argument.
- file – Object Name – Specify file/object to print to.
This one is a really cool addition, and it defaults to sys.stdout, (i.e.) your terminal. Thus, a more complete print() signature is:
print ( [object(s)], sep=' ', end='\n' , file=sys.stdout)
# No, you obviously don't have to import sys for this.
# Its just to describe what file its printing to.
# (/dev/stdout in UNIX's case)
All the file argument needs is an object that supports any write(string) method.
Now lets try printing the fruit basket to a file than to the terminal as default:
fruits = open("fruitsfile.txt", "w")
basket = ('Apple', 'Oranges', 'Banana')
print (*basket, sep=", ", end=".\n", file=fruits)
# Effectively prints the punctuated line,
# to the file named fruitsfile.txt
This could have a great use, especially with logging! And since it supports any object with a write method, the possibilities could be endless.
Now tell me if you still hate that its got parentheses? Look at the power of this new function!
