How to use String Formatters in Python

Last Updated : 04 Feb, 2025

In Python, we use string formatting to control how text is displayed. It allows us to insert values into strings and organize the output in a clear and readable way. In this article, we’ll explore different methods of formatting strings in Python to make our code more structured and user-friendly.

Using f-string

f-strings are the simplest and most efficient way to format strings. They allow expressions to be evaluated at runtime and are preceded by “f" or “F".

Example:

Python

# to display name and age name = "shakshi" age = 21 print(f"Name: {name}, Age: {age}")  # to display the sum of a and b a = 5 b = 3 print(f"sum of {a} and {b} is {a + b}")

Output

Name: shakshi, Age: 21 sum of 5 and 3 is 8

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Using format()

format() is one of the methods in string class which allows the substitution of the placeholders with the values to be formatted.

Example:

Python

name = "shakshi" age = 21  # Using positional arguments print("Name: {0}, Age: {1}".format(name, age))  # Using keyword arguments print("Name: {name}, Age: {age}".format(name="shakshi", age=21))

Output

Name: shakshi, Age: 21 Name: shakshi, Age: 21

Explanation:

Positional Arguments: This inserts values in order using placeholders {}.
Keyword Arguments: This uses named parameters for clarity and flexibility in value assignment.

Using format specifier (% )

% operator for string formatting is the oldest method in Python and is similar to C-style string formatting. It’s still widely used but is less efficient compared to f-strings and format().

Most common format specifiers

Format specifier	Description
%s	Specifies the String
%c	Specifies a single character
%d	Specifies the integer
%f	Specifies the float. Any number of digits can be present after decimal point
%<space>.<number>f	Specifies the float. <space> denotes the number of space to append before printing the number. <number> denotes the number of digits to be present after the decimal point.
%x / %X	Specifies the hexadecimal representation of the value
%o	Specifies the octal representation of a value
%e / %E	Specifies the floating numbers in exponential format
%g / %G	Similar to %e/%E. Specifies the exponential format only if the exponent is greater than -4

Example:

Python

a = "This is a string" print("String is %s" % (a))  # single character b = 'a' print("Single character is %c" % (b))  # integer c = 45 print("number is %d" % (c))  # float without specified precision d = 34.521094 print("float is %f" % (d))

Output

String is This is a string Single character is a number is 45 float is 34.521094

Using print()

print() function in Python displays messages and outputs, converting non-string objects to strings. It also allows formatting with parameters like sep, which defines a separator between printed elements.

Example:

Python

name = "shakshi" age = 21 print("Name: " + name + ", Age: " + str(age))

Output

Name: shakshi, Age: 21

Python String format() Method

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python

How to use String Formatters in Python

Using f-string

Using format()

Using format specifier (% )

Most common format specifiers

Using print()

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