# -*- coding: utf-8 -*- 

import string 
 
template_text = ''''' 
  Delimiter : %% 
  Replaced : %with_underscore 
  Ingored : %notunderscored 
''' 
 
d = {'with_underscore' : 'replaced', 
   'notunderscored' : 'not replaced'} 
 
class MyTemplate(string.Template): 
  delimiter = '%' 
  idpattern = '[a-z]+_[a-z]+' 
   
t = MyTemplate(template_text) 
print('Modified ID pattern: ') 
print(t.safe_substitute(d)) 

Modified ID pattern:  
 
  Delimiter : % 
  Replaced : replaced 
  Ingored : %notunderscored 

import string 
 
t = string.Template('$var') 
print(t.pattern.pattern) 
 
class MyTemplate(string.Template): 
  delimiter = '{{' 
  pattern = r''''' 
  \{\{(?: 
   (?P<escaped>\{\{) |  # Escape sequence of two delimiters 
   (?P<named>[_a-z][_a-z0-9]*)\}\}   |  # delimiter and a Python identifier 
   {(?P<braced>[_a-z][_a-z0-9]*)}\}\}  |  # delimiter and a braced identifier 
   (?P<invalid>)       # Other ill-formed delimiter exprs 
  ) 
  ''' 
   
t2 = MyTemplate(''''' 
{{{{ 
{{var}} 
''') 
 
print('MATCHES: ', t2.pattern.findall(t2.template)) 
print('SUBSTITUTED: ', t2.safe_substitute(var='replacement')) 

  \$(?: 
   (?P<escaped>\$) |  # Escape sequence of two delimiters 
   (?P<named>[_a-z][_a-z0-9]*)   |  # delimiter and a Python identifier 
   {(?P<braced>[_a-z][_a-z0-9]*)}  |  # delimiter and a braced identifier 
   (?P<invalid>)       # Other ill-formed delimiter exprs 
  ) 
   
MATCHES: [('{{', '', '', ''), ('', 'var', '', '')] 
SUBSTITUTED:  
{{ 
replacement 

import string 
 
values = {'var' : 'foo'} 
 
t = string.Template('''''$var is here but $ missing is not provided! ''') 
 
 
try: 
  print 'substitute() : ', t.substitute(values) 
except ValueError as err: 
  print 'Error:', str(err) 
   
print 'safe_substitude() : ', t.safe_substitute(values) 

substitute() : Error: Invalid placeholder in string: line 1, col 18 
safe_substitude() : foo is here but $ missing is not provided!