Breaking Long Strings into Multiple Lines
Implicit Line Continuation with Parentheses
long_string = ("This is a very long string that should be "
"broken into multiple lines for better "
"readability and without having to scroll "
"horizontally.")This method maintains the original string without introducing extra whitespace or newline characters, making it ideal for long strings that should be treated as a single line.
Triple Quotes
long_string = """This is a very long string that should be
broken into multiple lines for better
readability and without having to scroll
horizontally."""This method preserves newline characters and leading spaces, making it suitable for cases where the string’s original formatting, including line breaks and indentation, needs to be retained.
Automating Long String Reformatting with Black
Black can automatically break long strings according to the configured line length limit. By default, Black uses a line length of 88 characters but can be adjusted using the --line-length option.
To adjust the line length:
Maximum Line Lengths
- PEP 8 recommends a maximum line length of 79 characters for Python code.
- Black uses a default line length of 88 characters.
These limits can be customized, but sticking to the recommended limits ensures consistent code style and readability across different projects and teams.