Showing Messages on the Screen

Every app needs a way to talk to the user. In Python, we use the print() command to show text, numbers, or results on the screen.

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1. Printing One or More Things

At its simplest, you can pass a single piece of text to print():

print("Welcome to Think IT Telugu")

You can also print multiple things at the same time by separating them with commas. Python will automatically put a single space between them:

user_name = "Sai"
active_sessions = 3

print("User:", user_name, "Sessions:", active_sessions)
# Output: User: Sai Sessions: 3

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2. Special Characters (\n and \t)

Sometimes you want to format your text - like starting a new line or adding a big space. You can do this using special combinations called escape characters:

• \n (New Line): Acts like pressing the "Enter" key on your keyboard. It moves the text after it to a new line.

  print("First Line\nSecond Line")
  # Output:
  # First Line
  # Second Line

• \t (Tab Space): Acts like pressing the "Tab" key. It inserts a big blank space (usually 4 spaces).

  print("Name:\tSai\nAge:\t25")
  # Output:
  # Name:   Sai
  # Age:    25

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3. Customizing print() with sep and end

By default, when you separate items with a comma, Python puts a space between them. Also, every time a print() command finishes, it automatically goes to a new line.

You can change this behavior using two special controls:

Custom Separator (sep)

By default, the separator between items is a space. You can change it to whatever you want using sep=:

# Format a date using hyphens instead of spaces
print("2026", "07", "01", sep="-")
# Output: 2026-07-01

# Print website domain
print("www", "google", "com", sep=".")
# Output: www.google.com

Custom Line Ending (end)

By default, Python moves to a new line at the end of a print() command. You can keep it on the same line using end=:

# Keep the next print on the same line by ending with a space instead of a new line
print("Loading data...", end=" ")
print("Done!")
# Output: Loading data... Done!

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Quick Summary

• print() Function: Outputs values, strings, and expressions to the screen.
• Separator (sep): Controls the character printed between comma-separated values (defaults to space " ").
• Line Ending (end): Controls the ending character (defaults to newline \n; change to end=" " to keep on the same line).
• Escape Sequences: Use \n for line breaks and \t for tab spacing.

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What's Next?

Now that you know how to output messages cleanly, let's learn how to ask the user questions and accept keyboard answers using User Input in the next lesson!