55

I would like to know how to remove additional spaces when I print something.

Like when I do:

print 'Value is "', value, '"'

The output will be:

Value is " 42 "

But I want:

Value is "42"

Is there any way to do this?

Antti Haapala -- Слава Україні
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nookonee
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6 Answers6

73

Don't use print ..., (with a trailing comma) if you don't want spaces. Use string concatenation or formatting.

Concatenation:

print 'Value is "' + str(value) + '"'

Formatting:

print 'Value is "{}"'.format(value)

The latter is far more flexible, see the str.format() method documentation and the Formatting String Syntax section.

You'll also come across the older % formatting style:

print 'Value is "%d"' % value
print 'Value is "%d", but math.pi is %.2f' % (value, math.pi)

but this isn't as flexible as the newer str.format() method.

In Python 3.6 and newer, you'd use a formatted string (f-string):

print(f"Value is {value}")
Martijn Pieters
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    Oh okay I didn't know that, just learning Python, thanks for the quick answer ! – nookonee Feb 23 '15 at 08:24
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    `''.format` style is preferable because it avoids several `%`-style related edge cases such as implicit promotion to `unicode` and unintentional `% tuple`, `% dict` usage. – jfs Feb 23 '15 at 11:31
  • @J.F.Sebastian: not to mention that `str.format()` supports custom formatting for classes; you cannot easily format `datetime` objects with `%` the way you can with `str.format()`, for example. Then there is the recursive field definitions (you can use fields to determine how other fields are formatted), etc. – Martijn Pieters Feb 23 '15 at 12:01
53

Just an easy answer for the future which I found easy to use as a starter: Similar to using end='' to avoid a new line, you can use sep='' to avoid the white spaces...for this question here, it would look like this: print('Value is "', value, '"', sep = '')

May it help someone in the future.

Flo
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16

It's the comma which is providing that extra white space.

One way is to use the string % method:

print 'Value is "%d"' % (value)

which is like printf in C, allowing you to incorporate and format the items after % by using format specifiers in the string itself. Another example, showing the use of multiple values:

print '%s is %3d.%d' % ('pi', 3, 14159)

For what it's worth, Python 3 greatly improves the situation by allowing you to specify the separator and terminator for a single print call:

>>> print(1,2,3,4,5)
1 2 3 4 5

>>> print(1,2,3,4,5,end='<<\n')
1 2 3 4 5<<

>>> print(1,2,3,4,5,sep=':',end='<<\n')
1:2:3:4:5<<
paxdiablo
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4

https://docs.python.org/2/library/functions.html#print

print(*objects, sep=' ', end='\n', file=sys.stdout)

Note: This function is not normally available as a built-in since the name print is recognized as the print statement. To disable the statement and use the print() function, use this future statement at the top of your module:

from future import print_function

Mauro
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2

To build off what Martjin was saying. I'd use string interpolation/formatting.

In Python 2.x which seems to be what you're using due to the lack of parenthesis around the print function you do:

print 'Value is "%d"' % value

In Python 3.x you'd use the format method instead, so you're code would look like this.

message = 'Value is "{}"'
print(message.format(value))
GallegoDor
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-1
>>> value=42

>>> print "Value is %s"%('"'+str(value)+'"') 

Value is "42"
Peter Wood
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user3694147
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