How can I fill out a Python string with spaces?

Question

I want to fill out a string with spaces. I know that the following works for zero's:

>>> print  "'%06d'"%4 '000004' 

But what should I do when I want this?:

'hi    ' 

of course I can measure string length and do str+" "*leftover, but I'd like the shortest way.

Answer 1

You can do this with str.ljust(width[, fillchar]):

Return the string left justified in a string of length width. Padding is done using the specified fillchar (default is a space). The original string is returned if width is less than len(s).

>>> 'hi'.ljust(10) 'hi        ' 

Answer 2

For a flexible method that works even when formatting complicated string, you probably should use the string-formatting mini-language,

using either f-strings

>>> f'{"Hi": <16} StackOverflow!'  # Python >= 3.6 'Hi               StackOverflow!' 

or the str.format() method

>>> '{0: <16} StackOverflow!'.format('Hi')  # Python >=2.6 'Hi               StackOverflow!'