Python - print values of a list embedded in a sentence without calling them individually?

Question

Is there a way to print out the values of a list embedded in a sentence without calling them individually? For example, instead of doing this:

test = ["baseball","brother","sister"]
print ("Bob went out to play {} with his {} and {}.".format(test[0], test[1], test[2])).

Is there a way to shorten it to something like:

print ("Bob went out to play {} with his {} and {}.".format(test[0:2]))

You can star your argument list `"{} {} {}".format(*test[:3])` — Paul Panzer, Feb 19 '17 at 04:12
Have a look at my new answer. By the way you shouldn't ask a question, someone answers it and then change your question and mark that person's answer down. — Elodin, Feb 19 '17 at 04:17
@Paul Panzer The star with or without the splicing does the trick! Thanks — username, Feb 19 '17 at 04:17
@TheNumnut Thanks for your comment; I am trying to avoid calling each value individually. — username, Feb 19 '17 at 04:20
Ah, yes apparently `format` gracefully overlooks excess arguments. — Paul Panzer, Feb 19 '17 at 04:20
@TheNumnut I'm sorry, I wasn't the one who voted your answer down. — username, Feb 19 '17 at 04:22

Chai T. Rex · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-19T19:34:36.550

1

As Paul Panzer points out in the question's comments, you can use * in front, though you'll need *test[0:3] instead of *test[0:2]:

test = ["baseball","brother","sister"]
print ("Bob went out to play {} with his {} and {}.".format(*test[0:3]))

This produces:

Bob went out to play baseball with his brother and sister.

edited Feb 19 '17 at 19:34

answered Feb 19 '17 at 04:17

Chai T. Rex

Thanks! Do you know why this seems to work with or without the [0:3]? – username Feb 19 '17 at 04:21
The `*` unpacks the values, without it you are just slicing the list so it is still just one item. You can also just do `*test` without the slice. [this](http://stackoverflow.com/a/36908/4831822) should help explain the usage of `*`. – Steven Summers Feb 19 '17 at 04:22
I see, thanks for the explanation! Paul also mentioned above that format overlooks excess arguments. – username Feb 19 '17 at 04:25

1 Answers1