Small inconsistency in the format.__doc__ >>> sys.version 2.7 (r27:82525, Jul 4 2010, 09:01:59) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] >>> ''.format.__doc__ S.format(*args, **kwargs) -> unicode
>>> type('{}'.format(999)) <type 'str'> >>> type('{}'.format('abcé')) <type 'str'> -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list