CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythontabsindentation
user3681585
user3681585

Reputation: 43

Why is python adding different space lengths when using tab?

Why do I get different amounts of spaceing between each \t and how would I go about fixing this?

print ("\tName1:\tName2:\tNumber1:\tNumber2:")

Output:

Name1:  Name2:  Number1:    Number2:

The space between Number1: and Number2: is not the same as the first two; how would I go about fixing this?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 950

Answers (3)

Terry Jan Reedy
Terry Jan Reedy

Reputation: 19144

Here is a simple way to put n spaces between each string.

>>> n = 3
>>> print((' '*n).join(('Name1:', 'Name2:', 'Number1:', 'Number2:')))
Name1:   Name2:   Number1:   Number2:

Upvotes: 0

Prune
Prune

Reputation: 77837

\t advances to the next tab stop; this is usually set to the next multiple of 8 columns. In other words, it's not broken: it's working just as it's supposed to.

If you want the same quantity of spaces between your labels, then use a fixed number of spaces, rather than tabs. For instance:

space = "    "
print "Name1" + space +
      "Name2" + space +
      "Name3" + space +
      "Name4"

You can also use formatted output.

Upvotes: 0

James
James

Reputation: 36608

The console has tab-stops at every 8 spaces. If you are passed a tab-stop, it moves to the next one. You can see where the tab-stops are here:

print("\tName1:\tName2:\tNumber1:\tNumber2:") 
print('1234567890'*5)
print('\t^'*5)
        Name1:  Name2:  Number1:        Number2:
123456781234567812345678123456781234567812345678
        ^       ^       ^       ^       ^

It makes sure that at least 1 space still exists after a tab. That is why Number2: got moved to the next tab-stop.

If you want to print with a pre-fixed spacing, you can do it like this:

header = ['Name1:', 'Name2:', 'Number1:', 'Number2:']
# set the width of the headers as the widest string length plus 4
width = max(len(h) for h in header) + 4
print('{: <w}{: <w}{: <w}{: <w}'.replace('w',str(width)).format(*header))

# output:
Name1:      Name2:      Number1:    Number2:

The print statement is a bit confusing, but it sets the number of spaces to pad each string with as width.

Upvotes: 1

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