Alternatives

  • f-strings. As of Python 3.6, Python finally has formatted strings that are in-place interpolated. Thank you, PEP 498. Some decades after Perl, PHP, Ruby, et al, but bravo! nonetheless. In many cases, if all you need are interplated strings, f-strings are grand. Just one of many reasons to upgrade to the latest modern Python builds. Sadly, f-strings lack the easy coloring, wrapping, and other formatting functions say builds in. But f-strings are quite compatible with say, so feel free to use them together.

  • ScopeFormatter provides variable interpolation into strings. It is amazingly compact and elegant. Sadly, it only interpolates Python names, not full expressions. say has full expressions, as well as a framework for higher-level printing features beyond ScopeFormatter’s…um…scope.

  • interpolate is similar to say.fmt(), in that it can interpolate complex Python expressions, not just names. Its i % "format string" syntax is a little odd, however, in the way that it re-purposes Python’s earlier "C format string" % (values) style % operator. It also depends on the native print statement or function, which doesn’t help bridge Python 2 and 3.

  • Even simpler are invocations of % or format() using locals(). E.g.:

    name = "Joe"
print "Hello, %(name)!" % locals()
# or
print "Hello, {name}!".format(**locals())

    Unfortunately this has even more limitations than ScopeFormatter: it only supports local variables, not globals or expressions. And the interpolation code seems gratuitous. Simpler:

    say("Hello, {name}!")