'{:,}'.format(1234567890)  # => '1,234,567,890'

# 2 decimal places
print 'The value of PI is approximately {0:.2f}.'.format(math.pi)

print '{:<30}'.format('left aligned')   # => 'left aligned                  '
print '{:>30}'.format('right aligned')  # => '                 right aligned'
print '{:^30}'.format('centered')       # => '           centered           '
# use '*' as a fill char
print '{:*^30}'.format('centered')      # => '***********centered***********'

for align in '<^>':
  print '{0:{fill}{align}16}'.format(text, fill='-', align=align)
# Output
#
# left------------
# -----center-----
# -----------right

for base in 'dXob':
  print '{0:{width}{base}}'.format(10, base=base, width=5),
# Output
#
# 10     A    12  1010