String formatting: % vs. .format vs. string literal

Question

Python 2.6 introduced the str.format() method with a slightly different syntax from the existing % operator. Which is better and for what situations?

Pyt

Answer 1

As I discovered today, the old way of formatting strings via % doesn't support Decimal, Python's module for decimal fixed point and floating point arithmetic, out of the box.

Example (using Python 3.3.5):

#!/usr/bin/env python3

from decimal import *

getcontext().prec = 50
d = Decimal('3.12375239e-24') # no magic number, I rather produced it by banging my head on my keyboard

print('%.50f' % d)
print('{0:.50f}'.format(d))

Output:

0.00000000000000000000000312375239000000009907464850 0.00000000000000000000000312375239000000000000000000

There surely might be work-arounds but you still might consider using the format() method right away.