The print function is one of the most essential tools in Python, allowing you to display information and debug your code effectively. In this chapter, we’ll learn the basics of print statements and explore how to print with descriptive text, use formatted string literals (F-strings), and work with format specifiers. You’ll also learn how to handle quotes in strings, concatenate multiple strings, and use the end and sep arguments to control output. By the end of this chapter, you’ll have a solid grasp of how to print output in Python with precision and flexibility

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Understanding and Using the Python Print Function

In this chapter, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Python’s print function. Let’s start with the syntax of a few simple print statements.

Simple Print Statements

You can print integers and floating-point numbers as they are. However, remember to use quotes when you are printing strings.

 For example, print ( 10 ) will work, but print ( hello ) will throw an error. The correct statement is print ( “hello” )

Okay… now start with these following simple print statements and try to understand how Python displays the output.

print ( 10 )		        # Output :   10
print ( "Hello" )		# Output :   Hello
print ( 10, 20 )		# Output :   10  20
print ( "Hello world" )	        # Output :   Hello world
print ( "Hello", 10 )	        # Output :   Hello  10

Note that parentheses, quotes and commas are part of the syntax and are not displayed in the output.

Try the code yourself:

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You can print variables using the “print” function. Note that variable names should not be enclosed in quotes.

a = 10
b = "Hello"
print ( a )		# Output :   10
print ( a, b )		# Output :    10  Hello

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How to Print with Descriptive Text

You can use strings along with your variables if you want to print a description. For example, check the code below which mixes both strings and variables in one print statement.

name, age = "Peter", 20

print ( "Name is",  name, "and age is",  age )   
 
# Output :    Name is Peter and age is 20

Try to figure out which are the strings and which are the variables used in the above print statement.

Try the code yourself:

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There are a few more ways to get the same output as the previous code. One option we have is f-strings, and the other is placeholders like %d, %s, %x, etc., known as format specifiers. Let’s check f-strings first.

Formatted String Literals or F-strings

Python 3.6 introduced f-strings which provide a way to embed expressions inside string literals, using curly braces ` { } `

a = 10
print ( f" a is { a } ")  	# Output  :    a is 10

#You can combine multiple variables in an f-string as well.

name, age = "Peter", 20
print (f" Name is { name } and age is { age } ")   		#Output :  Name is Peter and age is 20

Try to code yourself:

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Using Format Specifiers

In this method, we can use some placeholders in the string and replace those with values of the variables. `%d`, `%s` are the two commonly used placeholders. `%d` is used for integers and `%s` for strings.

name, age = "Peter", 20
print ( "Name is  %s " %name)   #Output :   Name is Peter
print ( "Age is %d " %age)    	#Output :   Age is 20

#Following example shows how to keep two placeholders in the same string.

print ( "Name is  %s  and age  is  %d “ %(name, age) ) 	#Output :   Name is Peter and age is 20

Try the code yourself:

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Using String Concatenation in the Print Function

You can concatenate strings using the `+` operator.

For example, `”Hello” + “World”` gives `”HelloWorld”`. You can use these types of expressions directly inside the print statement.

a, b = "Hello", "World"

print ( a + b )   	# Output  :  HelloWorld

Note that concatenation with `+` only works when you use the same data types on both sides of `+`. Attempting to concatenate a string with a non-string type will result in an error.

For example:

print ( "Hello" + 10 )   	# Will throw a TypeError

print ( "Hello" + "10" )   	#Output  : Hello10

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Handling Quotes in Strings

You may encounter situations where you need to include quotes within your strings. You can use a backslash ( `\` ) before quotes to avoid the special meaning of quotes, and this will display the quotes.

For example:

print("Interface \"EthernetO\" is up")   		

#Output :  Interface "EthernetO" is up

In Python, you can use single quotes or double quotes to make a string. If you have used single quotes at the beginning and at the end, you can use double quotes inside the string to display it.

For example:

print ( 'Interface "EthernetO" is up' )

print (" Interface 'EthernetO' is up" )

 Try the code yourself:

But using the same type of quote for both the string and the embedded quote will result in a syntax error.

print ( "Interface "EthernetO" is up" )                    

#Output :  SyntaxError: invalid syntax

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What is the `end` Argument in the Print Function?

By default, the `print` function ends with a newline character ( `\n` ). You can check this by using two print statements.

Try the two print commands given below:

print("Hello")
print("World")

#You will get the following output:
Hello
World

We are getting the above output because Python adds a newline `\n` at the end of each print statement. The first print ( “hello” ) will get converted to print( “hello\n” ), so after printing the word “hello” a new line is added. The second print statement is displayed on the second line.

We can change this behavior by using the `end` argument.

For example:

print ( "Hello", end = "," )
print ( "World" )

# Output:
Hello,World

In this example, the first `print` statement ends with a comma instead of a newline, so the second `print` statement continues on the same line.

You can use any string for the `end` argument.

For example:

print("Hello", end="---")

print("World")            # Output  :   Hello---World

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What is the `sep` Argument in the Print Function?

You would have noticed that a space is added between the arguments in the print function.

For example,

print ( "Learning", "Python", "Basics" )  			#Output : Learning Python Basics

Print ( "Learning", "Python", "Basics", sep="-")  
#Output: Learning-Python-Basics

In the above code `sep` argument is used to specify which character has to be used between the arguments.

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Next >>> Chapter 5: Python Conditional Statements: if, else, and elif
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