How do you suppress the print function’s ending newline?

The print function is a fundamental feature in Python, serving as one of the most common ways to output data from a program to the screen. Whenever you write a piece of code that needs to communicate with a user or display certain results, the print function is often your go-to instrument.

By default, when you call print() in Python, it sends the specified message to the console and then automatically adds a newline character, signaling the end of the current line and moving the cursor to the beginning of the next one.

For example, executing print('Hello') followed by print('World') will result in output that is split across two lines:

HelloWorld

The simplicity of the print function makes it highly accessible for beginners learning how to code in Python, as it only requires the information to be outputted enclosed in parentheses. However, despite its apparent straightforwardness, print has flexibility that can be unlocked through its optional parameters.

The newline character, represented as '', is a special character in programming languages that signifies the end of a line and the start of a new one. In Python and many other languages, it's how the system understands that you want to organize your output, so it's visually approachable.

In text strings, whenever you include '', you tell the program to break the line at that point. You could liken it to hitting the 'Enter' or 'Return' key on a keyboard when typing in a word processor.

Imagine you're framing a sentence, and you want it to appear across two lines:

This is the start......and this is the end.

It will be rendered as:

This is the start......and this is the end.

This invisible character is pivotal for formatting output text, which becomes especially useful when dealing with the presentation of data or when creating text-based interfaces.

Python's print function has an end parameter that defines what character is printed at the end of the print statement. By default, this parameter is set to '', which is the newline character, but it can be manipulated to change the behavior of the print function.

To demonstrate, if you wish to print two statements back to back on the same line, you would adjust the end parameter like so:

print('First Part', end='')print('Second Part')

This would output:

First PartSecond Part

By setting end='', we suppress the newline character and the subsequent text follows immediately after.

Similarly, you can use the end parameter to insert different characters or even strings at the end of your printed statement. For instance, using end='-->' would append the arrow to the end of the printout, before the next statement begins. This feature of the print function allows for a wide range of formatting possibilities that can be tailored to the specific needs of your output requirement.