Multiline Strings

In Python we can print multiple lines by using several print( ) functions in sequence. For example if we wanted to display the following nursery rhyme:

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail
Of water

We could write the following commands in Python:

print("Jack and Jill")
print("Went up the hill")
print("To fetch a pail")
print("Of water")

There is also another way to achieve the same result in Python. This is by the use of a multiline string. A multiline string in python is created by enclosing the string in a triple set of quotes either double (""") or single ('''). Remember that the quotes must match on both ends.

So the above solution could be rewritten as the following code in Python:

myPoem = """Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail
Of water"""

print(myPoem)

Be careful with the alignment of your multiline string.

The print( ) Function - Part 3

In Python there is more to the print( ) function then we have seen so far. In Module 1 Lesson 2 we saw that we could print multiple objects using commas in the print function.

So the command below

print("Hello,", "today is", "Wednesday.")

would output Hello, today is Wednesday. on the screen. NOTICE the addition of spaces in the output. The print( ) function when used this way will automatically insert spaces after each object that is printed. This is because of the sep parameter in the function. The print( ) function has the following general syntax: (In a later lesson in the course we will add one more parameter to this)

print(obj1, obj2, obj3, ..., sep = " ", end = "\n")

So if we write the line of code below:

print("Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", sep = "-" )

the output on the screen would be Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. NOTICE the spaces have been substituted by the dashes (-) because we changed the sep parameter.

We can also control the end line behavior with the end parameter in the print( ) function.

Remember that if we run the following commands in Python:

print("My name is")
print("Daffy Duck.")

the output on the screen is

My name is
Daffy Duck.

This is because of the end parameter in the print( ) function. By default it is set to a new line character (\n). We will learn more about this escape sequence and others later in the course.

If we change the two lines above to the following:

print("My name is", end=" ")
print("Daffy Duck.")

now the output is My name is Daffy Duck. because we changed the end of the line to a space instead of a new line escape sequence.