Fun with the "%s" string formatter in python

til.py

# It accepts a precision??

In [13]: print '%.5s' % "Oh hi this is a long string"
Oh hi

# It magically knows whether you need a unicode or bytestring representation.

In [10]: class Foo2(object):
   ....:     def __str__(self): return "stringy"
   ....:     def __unicode__(self): return u"unicodey"
   ....:     

In [11]: "%s" % Foo2()
Out[11]: 'stringy'

In [12]: u"%s" % Foo2()
Out[12]: u'unicodey'