What does the % in a print between the format and variables actually do?
<p>I'm just starting to fool around with formatting the output of a print statement.</p>

<p>The examples I've seen have a % after the format list and before the arguments, like this:</p>

<pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; a=123
&gt;&gt;&gt; print "%d" % a
123
</code></pre>

<p>What is the meaning of the <code>%</code> and more important, why is it necessary?</p>
