Say you want to print variables in a 3 character column.
Note: doubling {
and }
escapes them.
s = """
pad
{{:3}} :{a:3}:
truncate
{{:.3}} :{e:.3}:
combined
{{:>3.3}} :{a:>3.3}:
{{:3.3}} :{a:3.3}:
{{:3.3}} :{c:3.3}:
{{:3.3}} :{e:3.3}:
"""
print (s.format(a="1"*1, c="3"*3, e="5"*5))
Output:
pad
{:3} :1 :
truncate
{:.3} :555:
combined
{:>3.3} : 1:
{:3.3} :1 :
{:3.3} :333:
{:3.3} :555: