Trying to format a string into columns with python

Question

I am trying to format a string to display two columns for a high score table. Python is able to do this well when using print

print '{0:2d} {1:3d} {2:4d}'.format(x, x*x, x*x*x)

but when trying to use a formatted string, but becomes more challenging it seems. This is the result I am trying to get:

#for name, score in list: prints the following
1. FirstName LastName   45000
2. First LastName       78000
3. Fst Lst              11123
4. Name Name            40404
5. llll lll             12345

This is all one string that goes into a pygtk label. Currently I have this:

score_string += "%i. %-15.12s\t%15s\n" % (index, name, score)

which yields untrustworthy results. My current test data is displayed as the following:

1. Firstname Lastname          49900
2. First Last              93000
3. Name Name               6400

Because the first name in that list is longer than the rest (in width, not count of characters) the tab forces the score out of position. Is there a way to do this that not only takes the length of the string, but the width of the string into account as well?

Answer 1

You have two options:

1. Change the font of the PyGTK label to a font that has equal width characters (not unreasonable in a game, it reminds us of the old arcade days). You can do this with set_markup of pango.Layout.

2. Use two labels next to each other and use the method set_alignment of the class pango.Layout. The first label aligns the name to the left, the second label contains the score and it aligns to the right. As long as their is enough space the names and scores will align nicely to the left and right respectively.

Answer 2

Is something like this acceptable?

>>> names = ["Firstname Lastname", "First Last", "Name Name"]
>>> scores = [49900, 93000, 6400]
>>> for i,v in enumerate(zip(names, scores)):
...     name, score = v[0], v[1]
...     print "% *d. % -*s %d" % (3, i, 30, name, score)
... 
  0. Firstname Lastname             49900
  1. First Last                     93000
  2. Name Name                      6400

Here the "name" field is padded with spaces to a max width of 30 characters.

Edit: I now see that the width of the font is also a problem. I did not realize that at first from your question. I'll leave this up in case future Googlers end up here for a different reason.