SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print' (Python)

# SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print' (Python)

The Python "SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)?" occurs when we forget to call print() as a function.

To solve the error, call the print function with parentheses, e.g. print('hello world').

Here is an example of how the error occurs.

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name = 'Bobby'

# ⛔️ SyntaxError: Missing parentheses in call to 'print'. Did you mean print(...)?
print 'hello ' + name

The code above uses print as a statement, which is the older syntax that was used in Python 2.

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# ⛔️ This code only works in Python 2
print 'bobbyhadz.com'

# ✅ This code works in Python 3
print('bobbyhadz.com')

If you need to check your Python version, use the python --version command.

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python --version

# Call print() as a function

From Python 3 onwards, print() is now a function and should be called with parentheses.

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name = 'Bobby'

print('hello ' + name)  # 👉️ "hello Bobby"

We called the print() function using parentheses, passing it the string we want to print.

Using print as an expression is no longer valid in Python 3.

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# ⛔️ This no longer works in Python 3
print 'bobbyhadz.com'

# ✅ Call print() as a function instead
print('bobbyhadz.com')

You can also specify a sep (separator) keyword argument if you need to.

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print('a', 'b', 'c', sep="_")  # 👉️ "a_b_c"

print('a', 'b', 'c', sep="_", end="!!!")  # 👉️ "a_b_c!!!"

The string we passed for the end keyword argument is inserted at the end of the string.

# Using the print() function with formatted string literals

The print() function is commonly used with formatted string literals.

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name = 'Bobby'

salary = 100

# Employee name:
#  Bobby
#  salary: 200
print(f'Employee name: \n {name} \n salary: {salary * 2}')

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

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my_str = 'is subscribed:'

my_bool = True

result = f'{my_str} {my_bool}'

print(result)  # 👉️ is subscribed: True

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

# If your code should run in both Python 2 and Python 3

You can add an import statement to import the print function from the __future__ module if your code should be able to run in both Python 2 and Python 3.

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# ✅ Can now use the print() function in Python 3
from __future__ import print_function

print('bobbyhadz.com')

We imported the print_function from __future__, so now we are able to use print as a function in Python 2.

You can use this approach to make your code Python 3 compatible.

# Use the 2to3 package to make your code Python 3 compatible

You can install the 2to3 package by running the following command.

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pip install 2to3
pip3 install 2to3

python -m pip install 2to3
python3 -m pip install 2to3
py -m pip install 2to3

The package is used to make your code Python 3 compatible.

You can run the package for a single file with the following command.

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2to3 -w main.py

Make sure to replace main.py with the name of your module.

You can also use the 2to3 module on all files in the directory.

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2to3 -w .

The print statements in your code should get converted to calls to the print() function as shown in the gif.

# Additional Resources

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

• Print alternate characters in a String in Python
• Print the binary representation of a Number in Python
• How to print Boolean values in Python
• Print a Dictionary in Table format in Python
• How to Print a Horizontal Line in Python
• How to Print a List in Columns in Python
• Print a List without the Commas and Brackets in Python
• Print New Line after a Variable in Python
• How to Print the output of a Function in Python
• How to Print specific items in a List in Python
• Print specific key-value pairs of a dictionary in Python
• How to repeat a String N times in Python
• Print a String with the Special Characters in Python
• How to print a Tab in Python
• How to Print tuple's elements in Python
• How to Print a Variable in Hexadecimal in Python
• How to Print a Variable's Name in Python
• How to Print a Zipped list in Python