[Python-Dev] transitioning from % to {} formatting (original) (raw)

Vinay Sajip vinay_sajip at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Oct 8 16:54:53 CEST 2009

I didn't get your message, could you resend?.

Resent, it may have been stopped by your spam filters since it came from my vinay-underscore-sajip-at-red-hyphen-dove-dot-com address. The subject was "Python str.format() and octal formatting compatibility".

I was thinking the same thing, but it seems like a transition step. I'd rather not keep such backward compatibility hacks (if you will) around for the long haul. How about a flag (maybe '*') at the start of the format specification which says "operate in backward compatibility mode"? We could document it as being only useful for the % to {} translator, and promise to remove it at some point in the future. Either actually deprecate it or just promise to deprecate it in the future.

I don't much mind matter exactly which mechanism we use to distinguish between 0o and 0 prefixes, as long as it's one most people are happy with :-)

Regards,

Vinay Sajip

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