format() overview
The format() function in Python returns a formatted representation of a given value. The format can be specified in the format specifications, which can be passed to the format() function as the second argument.
format() format types
The format() function can format the value in a variety of different types. The following table gives an overview of the formatting types and the flags used in the second argument of the format() function.
| flag |
format type |
| d |
decimal integer |
| c |
unicode character |
| b |
binary |
| o |
octal |
| x |
hexadecimal - lower case |
| d |
hexadecimal - upper case |
| n |
decimal integer, separator in current locale |
| e |
exponential - lower case |
| E |
exponential - upper case |
| f |
fixed point number - default 6 |
| F |
fixed point number - shows inf as INF and nan as NAN |
| g |
rounds number to specified digits - default 6 |
| G |
rounds number to specified digits - switches to E for large numbers |
| % |
percentage |
format() as binary
To format a number as binary representation, use the b flag as the second argument of the format() function.
# format() number as binary
myInt = 25
myBin = format(myInt, 'b')
print(myBin)
The number is formatted to binary format. The result is equal to the result of the
bin() function. However, no prefix is added by the format() function.
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format() syntax
The syntax of the format() function is:
format(object[, format_specifications])
format() arguments
The format() function accepts between 1 and 2 arguments.
The first argument is required and represents the object to be formatted.
The second argument is optional and allows specifications on how the value has to be formatted.
Use the
format types to specify the format to be used.
format() return values
The format() function returns a formatted representation of the given object. The exact format can be specified in the second argument.