string formatting with mapping & '*'... is this a bug?

[Pierre Fortin]

On 9 Sep 2004 18:45:37 GMT OKB wrote:

> Pierre Fortin wrote:
> 
> > Attempting to specify a field width via '*' to a mapping fails....
> > 
> >>>> "%(two)*d" % (mapping,6)
> > Traceback (most recent call last):
> >   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> > TypeError: format requires a mapping
> >>>> "%(two)-*d" % (6,mapping)
> > Traceback (most recent call last):
> >   File "<stdin>", line 1, in ?
> > TypeError: format requires a mapping
> 
>     	I don't think this has anything to do with the * thing.  You can't
>     	
> mix the sequence and mapping forms of %.  For instance, this also fails
> 
> >>> m = {'one': 1, 'two': 2}
> >>> "%(two)d %d" % (m, 6)
> 
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "<pyshell#8>", line 1, in -toplevel-
>     "%(two)d %d" % (m, 6)
> TypeError: format requires a mapping
> 
>     	The error message is telling you the truth: you're passing the % 
> operator a tuple, but your format string has a "%(two)" in it, which 
> means it requires not a tuple but a mapping.
> 

Darn...  I was hoping that Python would let me format strings with
mappings in a more readable/maintainable way than thusly:

>>> mapping = {'one':1,'two':2,'size':6}
>>> eval("'%%(two)%(size)dd' %% mapping" % mapping)
'     2'
-or-
>>> size=6
>>> eval("'%%(two)%dd' %% mapping" % size)
'     2'

Changing my copy of the book on P.48 to read:
"""
In addition, the asterisk (*) character may be used in place of any number
in any** width field. If present, the width will be read from the next
item in the tuple.

** EXCEPT with mappings described in (1) above
"""


Pierre