How to assign Print output to a Variable in Python

# Table of Contents

1. Assign print output to a variable in Python
2. Redirect print output to a variable in Python

# Assign print output to a variable in Python

To assign the output of the print() function to a variable:

1. Remove the call to the function and assign the argument you passed to print() to the variable.
2. The print() function converts the provided value to a string, prints it to sys.stdout and returns None.

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example = 'bobbyhadz.com'

# 👇️ remove call to print() to assign to a variable
my_str = str(example)
print(my_str) # 👉️ bobbyhadz.com

The example removes the call to the print() function to assign its argument to a variable.

The print() function takes one or more objects and prints them to sys.stdout.

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# ⛔️ BAD (print always returns None)

my_str = print('bobbyhadz.com')
print(my_str)  # 👉️ None

Instead, store the value in a variable and pass the variable to the print() function.

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example = 'bobbyhadz.com'

my_str = example
print(my_str)  # 👉️ bobbyhadz.com

Alternatively, you can redirect the output of the print() function to a variable.

# Redirect print output to a variable in Python

To redirect the output of the print function to a variable:

1. Set sys.stdout to an in-memory buffer using the io.StringIO class.
2. Use the print() function to print a value.
3. Use the getvalue() method on the object to access the output of the print() function.

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from io import StringIO
import sys


buffer = StringIO()
sys.stdout = buffer

print('This will be stored in the print_output variable')
print_output = buffer.getvalue()

# 👇️ restore stdout to default for print()
sys.stdout = sys.__stdout__

# 👇️ -> This will be stored in the print_output variable
print('->', print_output)

The io.StringIO class returns an in-memory buffer.

We redirected sys.stdout to the buffer and used the print() function to print a value.

The value can be accessed with the getvalue() method.

The method returns a bytes object that contains the entire contents of the buffer.

After the value is stored in a variable, restore the sys.stdout attribute to the default, so you can use the print() function.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

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