a='  libro  '
print '[%s]' %(a.strip())
# [libro]

print '[%s]' %(a.lstrip())
# [libro  ]

print '[%s]' %(a.rstrip())
# [  libro]

b='aei terra iia'
print '[%s]' %(b.strip('eia'))
# [ terra ]

c='gente'
print '[%s]' %(c.rjust(7))
# [  gente]
---------------------------------------
a='Roma,   Como, Pisa'

print a.split()
# ['Roma,', 'Como,', 'Pisa']

print a.split(',')
# ['Roma', '   Como', ' Pisa']

print map(lambda x: x.strip(),
  a.split(','))
# ['Roma', 'Como', 'Pisa']

b='0532 Comune di Ferrara'
print b.split(' ',1)
# ['0532', 'Comune di Ferrara']
---------------------------------------
a='andare, creare, stare'
b=a.replace('are','ava')
print b
# andava, creava, stava

a='ararat'
a=a.replace('ara','ava')
print a
# avarat
---------------------------------------
a='CRASCASTRAMOVEBO'
cesare=string.maketrans('ABCEMORSTV',
  'DEFHPRUVWY')
print a.translate(cesare)
# FUDVFDVWUDPRYHER

b='alfa, beta, gamma'
tra=string.maketrans(', ','!-')
print b.translate(tra)
# alfa!-beta!-gamma

c='ax tay uvzz xy'
tra=string.maketrans('xyz','XYZ')
print c.translate(tra)
# aX taY uvZZ XY
---------------------------------------
def printf (format,*valori):
  sys.stdout.write(format %valori)
---------------------------------------
u=7; v=7.23; comune='Pisa'
printf('u=%d, v=%d\n',u,v)
printf('comune di %s\n',comune)
# Output:

u=7, v=7
comune di Pisa
---------------------------------------
def valautoma (phi):
  def val (p,x):
    for a in p: x=phi[a][x]
    return x
  return val

for x in xrange(5):
  print valautoma(phi)('baa',x),
# 3 3 1 0 3