Question

I am trying to make a simple layout like this:

---------
-       -
-  ABC  -
-       -
---------

And I have tried two ways but failed:
1st method: Put the cursor at the right position, but I cannot seem to place the second vertical line where I want it:

    # making first horizontal linefrom position 00
    string_line = "-"*width              
    position00 = 0
    self.summarylines.append(string_line.ljust(position00))

    # making first vertical line from position 00
    for i in range(height):
            self.summarylines.append('-')

    # making second horizontal line from position V0
    poistion0V=position00+height        
    self.summarylines.append(string_line.ljust(poistion0V))

    # making second vertical line from position H0
    positionH0 = position00+width
    for i in range(height):
            self.summarylines.append('-'.ljust(positionH0))

2nd method: is to add the two vertical lines at the same time by adding the space in between them:

    # making first horizontal linefrom position 00
    string_line = "-"*width              
    position00 = 0
    self.summarylines.append(string_line.ljust(position00))

    # making first and second vertical line from position 00 + H0
    for i in range(height):
            self.summarylines.append('-    -')

    # making second horizontal line from position V0
    poistion0V=position00+height        
    self.summarylines.append(string_line.ljust(poistion0V))

However, for this case I don’t know how is it possible to add just the right spaces that are as big as the widht of the horizontal line.
Either way, I have not suceeded in making either of them work.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

>>> foo = 'ABC'
>>> head = ['-' * (len(foo)+6), '-%s-' % (' '*(len(foo)+4))]
>>> print '\n'.join(head + ['-  %s  -' % foo] + head[::-1])
---------
-       -
-  ABC  -
-       -
---------