Usage

def print_usage():
    print("hello - print out a message\n")
    print("Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]\n")
    print("Options:")
    print("-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string")
    print("-h --help                        show this help message and exit")


if __name__ == "__main__":
    print_usage()

1. Convert multiple prints into a single print statement: “Simple is better than complex.”

2. Use + to concatenate multiple strings, wrapping one long line with \: “Complex is better than complicated.”

3. Add missing \n to break lines apart: “Readability counts.”

def print_usage():
    usage_message = "hello - print out a message\n\n" + \
        "Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]\n\n" + \
        "Options:\n" + \
        "-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string\n" + \
        "-h --help                        show this help message and exit"
    print(usage_message)

1. Use implicit line wrapping instead of \ to wrap lines: PEP 8 and “Readability counts.” and “Simple is better than complex.”

2. Line up all strings: “Readability counts.”

3. Remove + signs, relying on implicit string concatenation (warning: this may be seen as un-Pythonic by some): “Simple is better than complex.”

def print_usage():
    usage_message = (
        "hello - print out a message\n\n"
        "Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]\n\n"
        "Options:\n"
        "-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string\n"
        "-h --help                        show this help message and exit"
    )
    print(usage_message)

1. Use multi-line string: “Simple is better than complex.”

2. Replace \n with actual newlines: “Simple is better than complex.”

3. Strip whitespace from ends of the string to compensate for extra newlines: “Complex is better than complicated.”

def print_usage():
    usage_message = """
hello - print out a message

Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]

Options:
-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string
-h --help                        show this help message and exit"""
    print(usage_message.strip())

1. Make a list of strings, one for each line and join them with \n

2. Remove now unnecessary strip

def print_usage():
    usage_message = "\n".join([
        "hello - print out a message",
        "",
        "Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]",
        "",
        "Options:",
        "-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string",
        "-h --help                        show this help message and exit"
    ])
    print(usage_message)

1. Make a multi-line docstring stating the usage information for this program: “Explicit is better than implicit.”

2. Print out the docstring as usage, stripping extra whitespace: “Readability counts.” and “Simple is better than complex.”

"""
hello - print out a message

Usage: hello.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT]

Options:
-o OUTPUT, --output=OUTPUT       output the given string
-h --help                        show this help message and exit

"""


def print_usage():
    print(__doc__.strip())