title: How to use unpacking operator ("*") together with C-style string formatting?
body: <p>I have recently begun the long, arduous (yet fulfilling) journey of becoming a programmer and am currently trying to get a foothold on the basics of string formatting in the latest version of Python.</p>
  <p>In reviewing the 3 main methods of string formatting, I am having trouble combining the use of the unpacking operator (*) with string formatting using the % string formatting operator.</p>
  <p>I do not have this problem when using string dot formatting:</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; L = [&quot;Bob&quot;, &quot;Frank&quot;, &quot;Joe&quot;] 
  &gt;&gt;&gt; names = &quot;Looking for {}, {}, {}&quot;
  &gt;&gt;&gt; print(names.format(*L))
  Looking for Bob, Frank, Joe
  </code></pre>
  <p>However, using % string formatting, I get error messages:</p>
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; Names = &quot;Looking for %s, %s, %s&quot;%*L
  SyntaxError: invalid syntax
  &gt;&gt;&gt; Names = &quot;Looking for %s, %s, %s&quot;%(*L)
  SyntaxError: can't use starred expression here
  </code></pre>
  <p>Is there any way to combine the unpacking operator with % string formatting, or is this something that can only be used in the context of string dot formatting?</p>
  <p>Sebastian</p>