Python: Assign print output to a variable

Question

I would like to know how to assign the output of the print function (or any function) to a variable. To give an example:

import eyeD3
tag = eyeD3.Tag()
tag.link("/some/file.mp3")
print tag.getArtist()

How do I assign the output of print tag.getArtist to a variable?

Answer 1

The print statement in Python converts its arguments to strings, and outputs those strings to stdout. To save the string to a variable instead, only convert it to a string:

a = str(tag.getArtist())

Answer 2

To answer the question more generaly how to redirect standard output to a variable ?

do the following :

from io import StringIO
import sys

result = StringIO()
sys.stdout = result
result_string = result.getvalue()

If you need to do that only in some function do the following :

old_stdout = sys.stdout  

# your function containing the previous lines
my_function()

sys.stdout = old_stdout

Answer 3

probably you need one of str,repr or unicode functions

somevar = str(tag.getArtist())

depending which python shell are you using