Percentage sign not working

Question

I am working with a HTML application with Python. I usually use the % sign to indicate that I'm using a Python element, and never had a problem with that before.

Now, I am using some tables which I'm trying to control their size bye the percentage using the % sign. So now the Python does not show the Python elements.

Here is some code to explain myself:

<table width="90%">
<tr>
<td width="60%">HELLO</td>
<td width="40%">GOOD BYE</td>
</tr>
</table>

<input type="button" value="BUTTON" onclick="function(%s)" /> ''' % variable

The error that I am having says

unsupported format character '"' (0x22) at index 19"

making reference to the %s string in the onclick=function(%s)

Does someone know if the % sign in the tables affects Python or something like that?

Could you show the specific code that's giving the problem and expected output? — Makoto, Jan 23 '12 at 18:17
Would you please provide more information about your problem? We don't know anything relevant yet. — Gandaro, Jan 23 '12 at 18:18

soulcheck · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-23T18:44:14.063

8

You need to escape '%' as '%%' in python strings. The error message you're getting probably is about the other percent signs. If you put only single percent sign in a string python thinks it will be followed by a format character and will try to do a variable substitution there.

In your case you should have:

'''

....
<table width="90%%">
<tr>
<td width="60%%">HELLO</td>
<td width="40%%">GOOD BYE</td>
</tr>
</table>

<input type="button" value="BUTTON" onclick="function(%s)" /> ''' % variable

edited Jan 23 '12 at 18:44

answered Jan 23 '12 at 18:33

soulcheck

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I am not sure I understood you! How exactly do I do that? – mauguerra Jan 23 '12 at 18:37

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 23 '12 at 18:59

In the newer Python (e.g., 2.6 or later), you can use .format() method. You will not need to escape your percent signs then:

s = '''<table width="90%">                                                                                
<tr>                                                                                                                                                                                                               
<td width="60%">HELLO</td>                                                                                                                                                                                         
<td width="40%">GOOD BYE</td>                                                                                                                                                                                      
</tr>                                                                                                                                                                                                              
</table>                                                                                                                                                                                                           
 <input type="button" value="BUTTON" onclick="function({funcarg})" /> '''

s.format(**{'funcarg': 'return'})

Percentage sign not working

2 Answers2

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