python: dots in the name of variable in a format string

Question

Say I\'ve got a dictionary with dots in the name of fields, like {\'person.name\': \'Joe\'}. If I wanted to use this in str.format, is it possible

Answer 1

One way to work around this is to use the old % formatting (which has not been deprecated yet):

>>> print 'Name: %(person.name)s' % {'person.name': 'Joe'}
Name: Joe

Answer 2

I had similar issue and I solved it by inheriting from string.Formatter:

import string

class MyFormatter(string.Formatter):
    def get_field(self, field_name, args, kwargs):
        return (self.get_value(field_name, args, kwargs), field_name)

however you can't use str.format() because it's still pointing to old formatter and you need to go like this

>>> MyFormatter().vformat("{a.b}", [], {'a.b': 'Success!'})
'Success!'

Answer 3

'Name: {0[person.name]}'.format({'person.name': 'Joe'})