A piece of Python code is a waste of time and resource without communicating with the real world. In this tutorial, you’ll master the humble, but powerful, Python print() function.
Python’s built-in print() function prints a string representation of any number of objects to the standard output. The print() function has many advanced arguments to customize the behavior—such as the separator argument to set a custom separator string between the printed objects, the end argument to set a custom ending string, or the file argument that even allows you to print a string into a file object.
Python print() — Usage Examples
Learn by example! Here are some examples of how to use the print() built-in function:
>>> print('hello')
hello
>>> print('hello world')
hello world
>>> print(42)
42
>>> print(1, 2, 3)
1 2 3
>>> print('hello', 'world', sep = '\n')
hello
world
>>> print('hello', 'world', sep = '\n', end = '\n-----\n')
hello
world
-----So, how does the syntax formally look like?
Python print() — Syntax
You can use the print() function with many different arguments.
print(*objects, sep=' ', end='\n', file=sys.stdout, flush=False)| Arguments | *objects | An arbitrary number of arguments, comma-separated, to be printed. Can be an arbitrary object for which Python implicitly calls the str() method to obtain a printable string. |
sep = ' ' | Optional. The separator string that’s printed between the objects. Per default, it’s the empty space. | |
end = '\n' | Optional. The string printed after the objects. Per default, it’s the new line character so that each new printed output is in a new line. | |
file = sys.stdout | Optional. An object with a write(string) method so that Python can write the string into this object. Per default, the string is printed to the standard output given by sys.stdout. | |
flush = False | Optional. A Boolean True or False defining whether the output is flushed or buffered. Per default the output is buffered which means that it is not guaranteed that the output is written right away. Instead, multiple calls to the underlying output stream may be necessary before anything may be written. | |
| Return Value | None | Returns nothing. |
Python print() — Video
Python print() — Return Value
The return value of print() is None.
Next, you’ll going to solve a puzzle about the print() statement in our interactive code shell.
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Python print() — Interactive Code Exercise
Let’s have a look at a practical exercise:
Exercise: Take a guess—what’s the output of this code snippet?
Python print() — Separator and End Arguments
There are two little-used arguments of the print() function in Python.
- The argument
sepindicates the separator which is printed between the objects. - The argument
enddefines what comes at the end of each line.
Consider the following example:
a = 'hello' b = 'world' print(a, b, sep=' Python ', end='!') # hello Python world!
The print() function has several arguments you can use to format the output.
The argument sep indicates the separator which is printed between the objects. By default sep is empty space. In the code, you set it to ' Python '.
The argument end defines what comes at the end of each line. By default end is a line break. In the code, you set it to '!'. This means that print() would print everything in one single line because there is no line break.
When we call print() with the given arguments and objects a and b we get the output 'hello Python world!'.
How to Print a Python List Beautifully
If you want to print a Python list in a more human-readable way, use the following three steps:
- Pass a list as an input to the
print()function in Python. - Use the asterisk operator
*in front of the list to “unpack” the list into the print function. - Use the
separgument to define how to separate two list elements visually.
>>> print(dir()) ['__annotations__', '__builtins__', '__doc__', '__file__', '__loader__', '__name__', '__package__', '__spec__', 'f', 'values'] >>> print(*dir(), sep = '\n') __annotations__ __builtins__ __doc__ __file__ __loader__ __name__ __package__ __spec__ f values
Full Article: Print a Python List Beautifully [Click & Run Code]
How to Print to a File in Python?
Every Python coder knows the print() function. But most Python coders don’t know that the print() function also has an optional file argument. You can use any file object as the file argument to print the results into the file.
hi = 'hello world!' file = 'hello.txt' # Method 2: print() function print(hi, file=open(file, 'a'))
Using the print() function is a beautiful, short, easy-to-remember, and Pythonic way to write strings into a file!
The method is clearly the most concise one and I’d recommend it to any Python coder.
Full Tutorial: Python One-Liner: Write String to File
Summary
Python’s built-in print() function prints a string representation of any number of objects to the standard output.
>>> print('hi')
hi
>>> print('hello', 'world')
hello world
>>> print(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10The print() function has many advanced arguments to customize the behavior—such as the separator argument to set a custom separator string between the printed objects, the end argument to set a custom ending string, or the file argument that even allows you to print a string into a file object.
>>> print(1, 2, 3, sep='---') 1---2---3 >>> print(*['Alice', 'Bob', 'Carl', 'Doris'], sep='....', end='XXXXXXXXX') Alice....Bob....Carl....DorisXXXXXXXXX
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Where to Go From Here?
Enough theory. Let’s get some practice!
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