[Python-Dev] pprint(iterator)

[Eric Smith]

Terry Reedy wrote:
> Ron Adam wrote:
>>
>>
>> Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>>> Michael Foord wrote:
>>>
>>>> Don't we have a pretty-print API - and isn't it spelled __str__ ?
>>>
>>> Not really. If it were as simple as calling str(obj), there would be 
>>> no need for the pprint module.
>>
>> I agree.  And when I want to use pprint, there are usually additional 
>> output formatting requirements I need that isn't a "one size fits all" 
>> type of problem.

I don't see how you can have a standard interface (like __pprint__), and 
have additional, per-object formatting parameters. But that's beside the 
point, I don't like __pprint__ in any event. Too special.

> Like others, I am wary of over-expanding the list of special methods. 
> Perhap format strings could have a fourth conversion specifier, !p 
> (pretty) in addition to !s, !r, and !a.

What would format() do with "!p"? With "!s", it calls str(o), with "!r", 
it calls repr(o). "!p" could call o.__pprint__(), but that's the special 
method you're trying to avoid!

(I don't recall if I added "!a", and a machine that would know isn't 
available to me just now.)

Eric.