String interpolation

Article summary

In computer programming, string interpolation (or variable interpolation, variable substitution, or variable expansion) is the process of evaluating a string literal containing one or more placeholders, yielding a result in which the placeholders are replaced with their corresponding values. It is a form of simple template processing or, in formal terms, a form of quasi-quotation (or logic substitution interpretation). The placeholder may be a variable name, or in some languages an arbitrary expression, in either case evaluated in the current context. String interpolation is an alternative to building a string via concatenation, which requires repeat quoting and unquoting; or substituting into a printf format string, where the variable is far from where it is used. Consider this example in Ruby: apples = 4 puts "I have #{apples} apples." # string interpolation puts "I have " + String(apples) + " apples." # string concatenation puts "I have %d apples." % apples # format string Two types of literal expression are usually offered: one with interpolation enabled, the other without. Non-interpolated strings may also escape sequences, in which case they are termed a raw string, though in other cases this is separate, yielding three classes of raw string, non-interpolated (but escaped) string, interpolated (and escaped) string.…

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