If you're going to be printing out objects from within Python, simply provide an __str__ method in the class and it will do all the work for you. Indeed - why not create classes and objects for straightforward objects such as people's names ... then you can call up the formatter for them very easily and have it defined just once in your code.

class person:
  def __init__(this,name):
    this.name=name
  def __str__(this):
    return "%-12s" % this.name
 
people = ["John","George","Paul","Esmerelda","Jo","Petal"]
plist = []
 
for current in people:
  plist.append(person(current))
 
for j in range(len(plist)):
  print plist[j],j

running that:

Dorothy:py08 grahamellis$ python names
John         0
George       1
Paul         2
Esmerelda    3
Jo           4
Petal        5
Dorothy:py08 grahamellis$

(written 2008-01-24, updated 2008-01-25)

 Y108 - Python - String Handling
  [3469] Teaching dilemma - old tricks and techniques, or recent enhancements? - (2011-10-08)
  [3468] Python string formatting - the move from % to str.format - (2011-10-08)
  [3349] Formatting output in Python through str.format - (2011-07-07)
  [3218] Matching a license plate or product code - Regular Expressions - (2011-03-28)
  [3090] Matching to a string - what if it matches in many possible ways? - (2010-12-17)
  [2814] Python - splitting and joining strings - (2010-06-16)
  [2780] Formatted Printing in Python - (2010-05-25)
  [2765] Running operating system commands from your Python program - (2010-05-14)
  [2721] Regular Expressions in Python - (2010-04-14)
  [2692] Flexible search and replace in Python - (2010-03-25)
  [2406] Pound Sign in Python Program - (2009-09-15)
  [2284] Strings as collections in Python - (2009-07-12)
  [1876] Python Regular Expressions - (2008-11-08)
  [1608] Underlining in Perl and Python - the x and * operator in use - (2008-04-12)
  [1195] Regular Express Primer - (2007-05-20)
  [1110] Python - two different splits - (2007-03-15)
  [970] String duplication - x in Perl, * in Python and Ruby - (2006-12-07)
  [954] Splitting Pythons in Bradford - (2006-11-29)
  [943] Matching within multiline strings, and ignoring case in regular expressions - (2006-11-25)
  [903] Pieces of Python - (2006-10-23)
  [773] Breaking bread - (2006-06-22)
  [560] The fencepost problem - (2006-01-10)
  [496] Python printf - (2005-11-15)
  [463] Splitting the difference - (2005-10-13)
  [324] The backtick operator in Python and Perl - (2005-05-25)

Y112 - Python - Objects - Intermediate
  [3524] Metaclasses (Python) and Metatables (Lua) - (2011-11-17)
  [3472] Static variables in functions - and better ways using objects - (2011-10-10)
  [3442] A demonstration of how many Python facilities work together - (2011-09-16)
  [3002] A list of special method and attribute names in Python - (2010-10-17)
  [2994] Python - some common questions answered in code examples - (2010-10-10)
  [2905] Defining static methods in Python - (2010-08-05)
  [2889] Should Python classes each be in their own file? - (2010-07-27)
  [2785] The Light bulb moment when people see how Object Orientation works in real use - (2010-05-28)
  [2764] Python decorators - your own, staticmethod and classmethod - (2010-05-14)
  [2722] Mixins example in Python - (2010-04-14)
  [2720] Multiple inheritance in Python - complete working example - (2010-04-14)
  [2717] The Multiple Inheritance Conundrum, interfaces and mixins - (2010-04-11)
  [2693] Methods that run on classes (static methods) in Python - (2010-03-25)
  [2485] How do I set up a constant in Python? - (2009-10-31)
  [2409] TypeError: super() argument 1 must be type, not classobj (Python) - (2009-09-18)
  [2368] Python - fresh examples of all the fundamentals - (2009-08-20)
  [1819] Calling base class constructors - (2008-10-03)
  [1661] Equality, sameness and identity - Python - (2008-05-31)
  [1644] Using a utility method to construct objects of different types - Python - (2008-05-17)
  [1217] What are factory and singleton classes? - (2007-06-04)
  [1146] __new__ v __init__ - python constructor alternatives? - (2007-04-14)
  [964] Practical polymorphism in action - (2006-12-04)
  [831] Comparison of Object Oriented Philosophy - Python, Java, C++, Perl - (2006-08-13)
  [656] Think about your design even if you don't use full UML - (2006-03-24)
  [477] Class, static and unbound variables - (2005-10-25)
  [383] Overloading of operators on standard objects in Python - (2005-07-19)
  [296] Using a Python dictionary as a holder of object attributes - (2005-04-30)

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