This is a simple example that does seem more readable (though it also would be if you explicitly added the value=value), but I think the concerns people have ar

This is a simple example that does seem more readable (though it also would be if you explicitly added the value=value), but I think the concerns people have are about more complex examples, and the fact that readability is also impacted if allowing arbitrary code within strings themselves. If you don't like using the empty {} (which seems fair enough), you can already use a couple of slightly more verbose but more explicit options: "{value} of very long text here...".format(**locals) or (more verbose with many keys) "{value} of very long text here...".format(value=value) I tend to prefer the latter even with multiple keys, but also think the former is better as it makes it explicit that the string is populated with the locals rather than implicitly doing it to all strings.