print ending with comma

[André Roberge]

jamesthiele.usenet at gmail.com wrote:
[snip]
> 
> A "\n" character is written at the end, unless the print statement ends
> with a comma.
> 
> What it doesn't say is that if the print statement does end with a
> comma, a trailing space is printed.
> --
> But this isn't exactly correct either. If you run this program:
> import sys
> print '+',
> print '-',
> sys.stdout.write('=')
> print
> --
> the output is:
> + -=
[snip]
> I know that this is not a massively important issue, but can someone
> explain what's going on?
> 
Actually, it is not a trailing space but a leading space
that is stored and displayed when print is called next.
 >>> import sys
 >>> print 'a',
a
 >>> print 'b',
  b
 >>>
---
sys.stdout.write() does not include such a leading space.

Time to consult python.org about the print statement.:
[http://www.python.org/doc/2.0.1/ref/print.html]

...A space is written before each object is (converted and) written, 
unless the output system believes it is positioned at the beginning of a 
line...

Yep, another case of RTM :-)

André