Usage

from say import *

x = 12
nums = list(range(4))
name = 'Fred'

say("There are {x} things.")
say("Nums has {len(nums)} items: {nums}")
say("Name: {name!r}")

yields:

There are 12 things.
Nums has 4 items: [0, 1, 2, 3]
Name: 'Fred'

Or if you want the resulting string, rather than to print the string:

>>> fmt("{name} has {x} things and {len(nums)} numbers.")
'Fred has 12 things and 4 numbers.'

At this level, say is basically a simpler, nicer recasting of:

from __future__ import print_function

print("There are {0} things.".format(x))
print("Nums has {0} items: {1}".format(len(nums), nums))
print("Name: {0!r}".format(name))
s = "{0} has {1} things and {2} numbers.".format(name, x, len(nums))

(The import and numerical sequencing of {} format specs is required to make pure-Python code work correctly from Python 2.6 forward from a single code base.)

But say and fmt read so much nicer! They are clear, simplem and direct, and don’t separate the place where the value should appear from the value.

Full expressions are are supported within the format braces ({}). Whatever variable names or expressions are found therein will be evaluated in the context of the caller.

The more items that are being printed, and the complicated the format invocation, the more valuable this simple inline specification becomes.

But say isn’t just replacing positional templates with inline templates. It also works in a variety of ways to up-level the output-generation task. For example:

say.title('Discovered')
say("Name: {name:style=blue}", indent='+1')
say("Age:  {age:style=blue}", indent='+1')

Prints a nicely formatted text block, with a proper title and indentation, and just the variable information in blue.