_message, (BaseChatPromptTemplate, BaseMessagePromptTemplate)
            ):
                input_vars.update(_message.input_variables)
        return cls(input_variables=sorted(input_vars), messages=_messages)
[docs]    def format(self, **kwargs: Any) -> str:
        """Format the chat template into a string.
        Args:
            **kwargs: keyword arguments to use for filling in template variables
                      in all the template messages in this chat template.
        Returns:
            formatted string
        """
        return self.format_prompt(**kwargs).to_string()
[docs]    def format_messages(self, **kwargs: Any) -> List[BaseMessage]:
        """Format the chat template into a list of finalized messages.
        Args:
            **kwargs: keyword arguments to use for filling in template variables
                      in all the template messages in this chat template.
        Returns:
            list of formatted messages
        """
        kwargs = self._merge_partial_and_user_variables(**kwargs)
        result = []
        for message_template in self.messages:
            if isinstance(message_template, BaseMessage):
                result.extend([message_template])
            elif isinstance(
                message_template, (BaseMessagePromptTemplate, BaseChatPromptTemplate)
            ):
                rel_params = {
                    k: v
                    for k, v in kwargs.items()
                    if k in message_template.input_variables
                }
                message = message_template.format_messages(**rel_params)
                result.extend(message)
            else:
                raise ValueError(f"Unexpected input: {message_template}")
        return result
[docs]    def partial(self, **kwargs: Union[str, Callable[[], str]]) -> ChatPromptTemplate:
        """Return a new ChatPromptTemplate with some of the input variables already
        filled in.
        Args: