Python: why extra spaces when printing an unpacked lterable?

Question

I was working on code for a string diamond in as few lines as possible (if anybody is interested: https://code.sololearn.com/cLT5P34UQwH8)

However, when trying different ways to print lists of strings line-by-line, I found that unpacking a list into a print function with an asteriks creates extra spaces at the beginning of a new line. This was an issue when printing my string diamonds. I fixed it now by using another printing method but I still do not understand the origin of these extra spaces.
Here a comparison of three methods I used: https://code.sololearn.com/cDlm9rQA2npw

Can anybody explain to me where the spaces in method 3 come from?

Answer 1

unpacking creates extra spacing. Do you want this instead?

prnt_lst2 = ["0", "¦1", "¦¦2", "¦¦¦3", "¦¦¦¦4", "¦¦¦¦¦5", "¦¦¦¦¦¦6"]
print(*prnt_lst2,sep="\n")

Answer 2

prnt_lst2 = ["0", "¦1", "¦¦2", "¦¦¦3", "¦¦¦¦4", "¦¦¦¦¦5", "¦¦¦¦¦¦6"]
print(*prnt_lst2, sep='\n')

Answer 3

Slick , thanks for your reply.
So print(*['a', 'b', 'c']) is similar to print('a', 'b', 'c'). Interesting! Thank you so much.

Choe & rodwynnejones: Great suggestion! I didn't know that I could use the sep argument when unpacking. This makes things easier. :)

Answer 4

Paste this into your IDE or code playground:-

mystring = "sololearnisgreat"
print(mystring)
print(*mystring)

Answer 5

actually sorry, the unpackaging isnt the issue at all. my bad. print function default parameter for sep is a whitespace. So, you can just do

prnt_lst2 = ["0\n", "¦1\n", "¦¦2\n", "¦¦¦3\n", "¦¦¦¦4\n", "¦¦¦¦¦5\n", "¦¦¦¦¦¦6\n"]
print(*prnt_lst2,sep="")

Answer 6

Choe You gave me the right solution the first time. :)

I basically wanted to unpack a list of strings and have every string printed on a new line without extra space.

The default parameter of sep was indeed the issue, so I needed to replace it with \n.

Answer 7

"\n" brings whatever is next down to the next line.

Using a comma in a list will seperate values with a space when you print them.

You should call print('0\n' + '|1\n' + '||2\n'......)

method 1 works because you used a loop with no "\n"

method 2 works because you are effectively taking the "extra space" that would have if you just printed it, and replaces it with "\n" characters