sprintf like functionality in Python

Question

Python has a % operator for this.

>>> a = 5
>>> b = "hello"
>>> buf = "A = %d\n , B = %s\n" % (a, b)
>>> print buf
A = 5
 , B = hello

>>> c = 10
>>> buf = "C = %d\n" % c
>>> print buf
C = 10

See this reference for all supported format specifiers.

You could as well use format:

>>> print "This is the {}th tome of {}".format(5, "knowledge")
This is the 5th tome of knowledge

If I understand your question correctly, format() is what you are looking for, along with its mini-language.

Silly example for python 2.7 and up:

>>> print "{} ...\r\n {}!".format("Hello", "world")
Hello ...
 world!

For earlier python versions: (tested with 2.6.2)

>>> print "{0} ...\r\n {1}!".format("Hello", "world")
Hello ...
 world!

I'm not completely certain that I understand your goal, but you can use a StringIO instance as a buffer:

>>> import StringIO 
>>> buf = StringIO.StringIO()
>>> buf.write("A = %d, B = %s\n" % (3, "bar"))
>>> buf.write("C=%d\n" % 5)
>>> print(buf.getvalue())
A = 3, B = bar
C=5

Unlike sprintf, you just pass a string to buf.write, formatting it with the % operator or the format method of strings.

You could of course define a function to get the sprintf interface you're hoping for:

def sprintf(buf, fmt, *args):
    buf.write(fmt % args)

which would be used like this:

>>> buf = StringIO.StringIO()
>>> sprintf(buf, "A = %d, B = %s\n", 3, "foo")
>>> sprintf(buf, "C = %d\n", 5)
>>> print(buf.getvalue())
A = 3, B = foo
C = 5

Use the formatting operator % : buf = "A = %d\n , B= %s\n" % (a, b) print >>f, buf

You can use string formatting:

>>> a=42
>>> b="bar"
>>> "The number is %d and the word is %s" % (a,b)
'The number is 42 and the word is bar'

But this is removed in Python 3, you should use "str.format()":

>>> a=42
>>> b="bar"
>>> "The number is {0} and the word is {1}".format(a,b)
'The number is 42 and the word is bar'

If you want something like the python3 print function but to a string:

def sprint(*args, **kwargs):
    sio = io.StringIO()
    print(*args, **kwargs, file=sio)
    return sio.getvalue()

>>> x = sprint('abc', 10, ['one', 'two'], {'a': 1, 'b': 2}, {1, 2, 3})
>>> x
"abc 10 ['one', 'two'] {'a': 1, 'b': 2} {1, 2, 3}\n"

or without the '\n' at the end:

def sprint(*args, end='', **kwargs):
    sio = io.StringIO()
    print(*args, **kwargs, end=end, file=sio)
    return sio.getvalue()

>>> x = sprint('abc', 10, ['one', 'two'], {'a': 1, 'b': 2}, {1, 2, 3})
>>> x
"abc 10 ['one', 'two'] {'a': 1, 'b': 2} {1, 2, 3}"