Format String In Python With Variable Formatting

How can I use variables to format my variables? cart = {'pinapple': 1, 'towel': 4, 'lube': 1} column_width = max(len(item) for item in items) for item, qty in cart.items(): pri

Solution 1:

Okay, problem solved already, here's the answer for future reference: variables can be nested, so this works perfectly fine:

for item, qty in cart.items():
    print"{0:{1}} - {2}".format(item, column_width, qty)

Solution 2:

Since python 3.6 you can use f-strings resulting in more terse implementation:

>>>things = {"car": 4, "airplane": 1, "house": 2}>>>width = max(len(thing) for thing in things)>>>for thing, quantity in things.items():...print(f"{thing:{width}} : {quantity}")... 
car      : 4
airplane : 1
house    : 2
>>>