Python String Literals and Escape Sequence

Question

I have a string

'"No, thanks, Mom," I said, "I don't know how long it will take."'

I assign it to a variable foobar

>>> foobar = """'"No, thanks, Mom," I said, "I don't know how long it will take."'"""

But when I print I get

>>> foobar
'\'"No, thanks, Mom," I said, "I don\'t know how long it will take."\''
>>>

How can I exactly print the same value of the string as I have assigned it?

what do you get when you print foobar

tMC
– tMC

2012-03-21 18:37:22 +00:00
Commented Mar 21, 2012 at 18:37 — tMC
– tMC, Commented Mar 21, 2012 at 18:37

phihag · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-21 18:36:21Z

2

To print a string, use ... print:

>>> foobar = """'"No, thanks, Mom," I said, "I don't know how long it will take."'"""
>>> print(foobar)
'"No, thanks, Mom," I said, "I don't know how long it will take."'

If you just enter foobar, Python prints the representation of foobar. The representation is designed to be valid Python code and/or useful for debugging, and is not meant to be outputted to users.

answered Mar 21, 2012 at 18:36

phihag

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Comments

mipadi · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-21 18:36:50Z

1

>>> print foobar

foobar, by itself, calls repr on the string, which prints the string with escapes. print foobar calls str on the string instead.

answered Mar 21, 2012 at 18:36

mipadi

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2 Comments

phihag Over a year ago

This (needlessly) only works in Python 2.x. I see absolutely no reason why one should teach about the print statement at the cusp of 3.x and the much easier-to-grasp print function.

mipadi Over a year ago

@phihag: Geez, sorry, man. I've been writing Python for so long that print-as-a-statement is second nature to me; I don't even think about it.

Sid · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-21 18:37:01Z

0

It is printing the same value. It is only showing you the single quote escaped to differentiate it from the single quote used by the cmd line to display of the string.

answered Mar 21, 2012 at 18:37

Sid

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