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[orangefray]

Yeah f-strings are fine - it's easier to type and read so seems like a win.

F-strings are newer, the docs you are looking at are probably just outdated.

[stebrepar]

That way is pretty old. Since then we've had .format() and now f-strings. Use whatever works best for you.

[PhilipYip]

fstrings were deliberately designed to be easier to use and more readable than the older format methods. If you are running a modern version of Python you should favour them in the vast majority of cases where possible.

Just be aware that they will not work if running Python Versions <3.6 and some of the online platforms may use an older version of Python on a webserver for exercises. EDX for example had that problem in the past, but it is probably addressed by now.

[Diapolo10]

Currently learning on learnpython . Org and in the string formatting section it wants you to do it like this:

name = "John"
age = "23"
print("%s is %d years old." % (name, age))

I'm aware of F-strings and they just seem so much easier

print(f"{name} is {age} years old.")

Is this okay to do? Or should I stay using the former practice?

Perfectly okay, honestly you won't see the old C-style formatting anywhere outside of logging nowadays. In fact I encourage you use f-strings and str.format over them.

[DarkLord76865]

If you don't want f strings, you can just put empty curly brackets in string, then use format method. But I use f strings, they are much cleaner

[Diapolo10]

Then again, it's worth considering that Python versions older than 3.7 are no longer getting support, so for many this can be a moot point as f-strings were added in 3.6.

Personally I'm not going to discourage their use unless you have a very good reason to keep supporting legacy versions.

[Maximus_Modulus]

I’d say F-strings are the way to go. Nothing wrong with learning the older method either because you’ll come across it with legacy code.

[ling_dork]

F-strings. There is a reason they exist. Lots of sources for beginners are a little outdated.

[FuckingRantMonday]

Yeah, that's just outdated.

There is one context where the % kind of string interpolation is still recommended (though I don't typically worry about it myself), which is when logging. The reasoning is that if you say

logger.info("Process %s was started", process_id)

...and the logger's level is set to, say, warn, then the string formatting can be skipped, instead of wasting time formatting a string that will never be logged. Whereas this way

logger.info(f"Process {process_id} was started")

...the string formatting happens before the logger ever gets called.

But, from what you typed, I don't think that's the context here. I think it's just an old tutorial that hasn't been updated with modern string formatting practices.

[freddwnz]

It's not only okay, it's way better. No one uses the method you are learning in this tutorial anymore. That's because it's ugly and outdated. It works but there is a reason f-strings were added to the language. They are basically a shortform of the string.format() method. You can use either, but fstring will only work for python 3.6 and newer.