How to Print a Tab Character in Python

Use the \t escape sequence to print a tab character in Python:

print("Name\tScore")
print("Ryan\t10")

Example output:

Name    Score
Ryan    10

\t represents one horizontal tab character. Its displayed width depends on the terminal, editor or other program showing the text—it is not a fixed number of spaces.

Put tabs between several values

Insert \t wherever a tab is needed:

name = "Ryan"
score = 10

print(name + "\t" + str(score))

An f-string is usually clearer:

print(f"{name}\t{score}")

The tab is part of the f-string text, between the two replacement fields.

Tabs inside f-string expressions

Python 3.12 and later accepts backslashes inside f-string replacement fields:

values = ["Python", "Sheets"]
print(f"{'\t'.join(values)}")

On Python 3.11 and earlier, that expression raises SyntaxError: f-string expression part cannot include a backslash. Assign the separator first when supporting those versions:

tab = "\t"
values = ["Python", "Sheets"]
print(f"{tab.join(values)}")

The second form works across older and current Python versions.

Print the characters \t instead of a tab

Use a raw string when the output should contain a backslash followed by t:

print(r"\t")
# \t

Alternatively, escape the backslash:

print("\\t")
# \t

Use chr(9)

The Unicode code point for a horizontal tab is 9, so chr(9) produces the same character:

print("one" + chr(9) + "two")

\t is more recognisable, but chr(9) can be useful when the character is constructed from a numeric code.

Align columns reliably

Tabs move to the next tab stop, so values of different lengths may not form neat columns:

print("A\t100")
print("Long name\t20")

Use formatted field widths when alignment must be predictable:

print(f"{'Name':<12}{'Score':>6}")
print(f"{'Ryan':<12}{10:>6}")

For the difference between a tab character and spaces, see how many spaces a tab represents.