How to split a string into multiple lines in python

Combining the ideas from:

Levon or Jesse, Faheel and ddrscott

with my formatting suggestion, you could write your query as:

query = ('SELECT'
             ' action.descr as "action"'
             ',role.id as role_id'
             ',role.descr as role'
         ' FROM'
             ' public.role_action_def'
             ',public.role'
             ',public.record_def'
             ',public.action'
         ' WHERE'
             ' role.id = role_action_def.role_id'
             ' AND'
             ' record_def.id = role_action_def.def_id'
             ' AND'
             ' action.id = role_action_def.action_id'
             ' AND'
             ' role_action_def.account_id = ?' # account_id
             ' AND'
             ' record_def.account_id = ?'      # account_id
             ' AND'
             ' def_id = ?'                     # def_id
         )

 vars = (account_id, account_id, def_id)     # A tuple of the query variables
 cursor.execute(query, vars)                 # Using Python's sqlite3 module

Or like:

vars = []
query = ('SELECT'
             ' action.descr as "action"'
             ',role.id as role_id'
             ',role.descr as role'
         ' FROM'
             ' public.role_action_def'
             ',public.role'
             ',public.record_def'
             ',public.action'
         ' WHERE'
             ' role.id = role_action_def.role_id'
             ' AND'
             ' record_def.id = role_action_def.def_id'
             ' AND'
             ' action.id = role_action_def.action_id'
             ' AND'
             ' role_action_def.account_id = '
                 vars.append(account_id) or '?'
             ' AND'
             ' record_def.account_id = '
                 vars.append(account_id) or '?'
             ' AND'
             ' def_id = '
                 vars.append(def_id) or '?'
         )

 cursor.execute(query, tuple(vars))  # Using Python's sqlite3 module

Which could be interesting together with 'IN' and 'vars.extend(options) or n_options(len(options))', where:

def n_options(count):
    return '(' + ','.join(count*'?') + ')'

Or with the hint from darkfeline, that you might still make mistakes with those leading spaces and separators and also with named placeholders:

SPACE_SEP = ' '
COMMA_SEP = ', '
AND_SEP   = ' AND '

query = SPACE_SEP.join((
    'SELECT',
        COMMA_SEP.join((
        'action.descr as "action"',
        'role.id as role_id',
        'role.descr as role',
        )),
    'FROM',
        COMMA_SEP.join((
        'public.role_action_def',
        'public.role',
        'public.record_def',
        'public.action',
        )),
    'WHERE',
        AND_SEP.join((
        'role.id = role_action_def.role_id',
        'record_def.id = role_action_def.def_id',
        'action.id = role_action_def.action_id',
        'role_action_def.account_id = :account_id',
        'record_def.account_id = :account_id',
        'def_id = :def_id',
        )),
    ))

vars = {'account_id':account_id,'def_id':def_id}  # A dictionary of the query variables
cursor.execute(query, vars)                       # Using Python's sqlite3 module

See documentation of Cursor.execute-function.

"This is the [most Pythonic] way!" - ...

When using PEP8 code checkers such as flake8 in Python, an error, E501 line too long, is raised when one line exceeds 80 characters.

This article describes how to write a long string that does not contain a new line on multiple lines.

• Use a backslash (\) as a line continuation character
• Use parentheses

See the following article for various operations related to strings with line breaks.

• Handle line breaks (newlines) in Python

If you want to wrap or truncate long strings, the textwrap module is useful. See the following article.

• Wrap and truncate a string with textwrap in Python

If the number of characters in a line becomes too long due to method chaining, you can break the line in the same way.

• Method chains with line breaks in Python

Use a backslash (\) as a line continuation character

In Python, a backslash (\) is a line continuation character. If a backslash is placed at the end of a line, it is considered that the line is continued on the next line.

n = 1 + 2 \
    + 3

print(n)
# 6

Also, if multiple string literals are written sequentially, they are concatenated into one string as follows:

s = 'aaa' 'bbb'

print(s)
# aaabbb

Therefore, you can write a long string into multiple lines as follows:

s = 'https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/'\
    '%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B0%E3%83'\
    '%A9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E8%A8%80%E8%AA%9E'

print(s)
# https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E8%A8%80%E8%AA%9E

Only string literals (string surrounded by ' or ") are concatenated if written consecutively. Note that in the case of variables, an error is raised.

s_var = 'xxx'

# s = 'aaa' s_var 'bbb'
# SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Use the + operator to concatenate variables, or variables and string literals.

s = 'aaa' + s_var + 'bbb'

print(s)
# aaaxxxbbb

You need the + operator to concatenate variables, even if they are separated by a backslash (\).

s = 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'\
    + s_var\
    + 'bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb'

print(s)
# aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxxxbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

See the following article for details of string concatenation.

• Concatenate strings in Python (+ operator, join, etc.)

Use parentheses

In Python, you can freely break the line in parentheses ((), {}, []). Using this rule, you can write a long string on multiple lines with parentheses instead of backslashes.

Since {} is used for set and [] is used for list, use () for such purpose. Note that tuple is created by commas, not ().

• A tuple with one element requires a comma in Python

You can write as follows.

s = ('https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/'
     '%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B0%E3%83'
     '%A9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E8%A8%80%E8%AA%9E')

print(s)
# https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%97%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E8%A8%80%E8%AA%9E

If variables are included, you need the + operator.

s = ('aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'
     + s_var
     + 'bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb')

print(s)
# aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxxxbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

How do you break a string with multiple lines?

How do you split a string in Python?

How do you do multiple lines in Python?