Strings across lines

[Derek Thomson]

Thomas Guettler wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> if I do:
> 
> print 'foo ................. %s ' + \
>       'bar ................. %s ' % (foo, bar)
> 
> I get:
> 
> "Not all arguments converted"
> 
> What is the nicest way of writing strings across
> line breaks?

Your problem is actually one of precedence. The % has higher precedence 
than the +.

This will work:

print ( 'foo ................. %s ' + \
         'bar ................. %s '     ) % (foo, bar)

But notice that now the '\' isn't necessary, as Python is smart enough 
to realize that the unclosed parantheses indicates that this line will 
continue. So this will work, too:

print ( 'foo ................. %s ' +
         'bar ................. %s '   ) % (foo, bar)

BTW I always use parentheses to split lines even if they aren't 
necessary (unlike this case). I just find it more readable and maintainable.

Regards,
Derek.