How to print without a newline or space

Consider these examples using print in Python:
>>> for i in range(4): print('.')
.
.
.
.
>>> print('.', '.', '.', '.')
. . . .


Either a newline or a space is added between each value. How can I avoid that, so that the output is .... instead? In other words, how can I "append" strings to the standard output stream?

In Python 3, you can use the sep= and end= parameters of the print function:

To not add a newline to the end of the string:

print('.', end='')

To not add a space between all the function arguments you want to print:

print('a', 'b', 'c', sep='')

You can pass any string to either parameter, and you can use both parameters at the same time.

If you are having trouble with buffering, you can flush the output by adding flush=True keyword argument:

print('.', end='', flush=True)

Python 2.6 and 2.7

From Python 2.6 you can either import the print function from Python 3 using the __future__ module:

from __future__ import print_function

which allows you to use the Python 3 solution above.

However, note that the flush keyword is not available in the version of the print function imported from __future__ in Python 2; it only works in Python 3, more specifically 3.3 and later. In earlier versions you'll still need to flush manually with a call to sys.stdout.flush(). You'll also have to rewrite all other print statements in the file where you do this import.

Or you can use sys.stdout.write()

import sys
sys.stdout.write('.')

You may also need to call

sys.stdout.flush()

to ensure stdout is flushed immediately.

Stack Overflow Q#493386, score: 3420