python usage of percentage sign- neither modulo nor string formatting
<p>What does a <code>%</code> sign mean in python when it is not a modulo or a string formatter? I came across it in this baffling block of code in the <code>timeit</code> module:</p>

<pre class="lang-py prettyprint-override"><code># Don't change the indentation of the template; the reindent() calls
# in Timer.__init__() depend on setup being indented 4 spaces and stmt
# being indented 8 spaces.
template = """
def inner(_it, _timer):
    %(setup)s
    _t0 = _timer()
    for _i in _it:
        %(stmt)s
    _t1 = _timer()
    return _t1 - _t0
"""

def reindent(src, indent):
    """Helper to reindent a multi-line statement."""
    return src.replace("\n", "\n" + " "*indent)
</code></pre>

<p>I have searched Google and SO for what this operator is, but no luck. I am using python 2.6.1 .</p>
