title: Automagically expanding a Python list with formatted output
body: <p>Does anyone know if there's a way to automatically expand a list in Python, separated by commas?  I'm writing some Python code that uses the MySQLdb library, and I'm trying to dynamically update a list of rows in a MySQL database with certain key values.</p>
  
  <p>For instance, in the code below, I'd like to have the numeric values in the record_ids list expand into a SQL "<code>IN</code>" clause.</p>
  
  <pre><code>import MySQLdb
  record_ids = [ 23, 43, 71, 102, 121, 241 ]
  
  mysql = MySQLdb.connect(user="username", passwd="secret", db="apps")
  mysql_cursor = mysql.cursor()
  
  sqlStmt="UPDATE apps.sometable SET lastmod=SYSDATE() where rec_id in ( %s )"
  
  mysql_cursor.execute( sqlStmt, record_ids )
  mysql.commit()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any help would be appreciated!</p>