How Can I Escape Percent Signs in Python String Formatting to Avoid `TypeError`?

Selectively Escaping Percent Characters within Python Strings

In Python programming, when concatenating strings with formatting placeholders (%s, %d, etc.), it can be desirable to selectively prevent certain characters, such as percent signs (%), from being interpreted as formatting directives. This can help avoid ambiguity and ensure proper string formatting.

Consider the following example:

test = "have it break."
selectiveEscape = "Print percent % in sentence and not %s" % test

In this case, the goal is to print a string that displays a percent sign followed by the value of test, without the percent sign being interpreted as a formatting directive. However, the current code results in a TypeError because the %s placeholder expects a number, not a string.

To selectively escape the percent sign, we can use the double percent sign (%%) notation:

selectiveEscape = "Print percent %% in sentence and not %s" % test

By doubling the percent sign, we prevent it from being interpreted as a formatting directive and effectively treat it as a literal character within the string. The code will now correctly print the desired output:

Print percent % in sentence and not have it break.

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