Text formatting error: '=' alignment not allowed in string format specifier

Question

What does \'=\' alignment mean in the following error message, and why does this code cause it?

>&         


        

Answer 1

This format would be acceptable

"{num}:03".format(num="1")

but the way you have the placeholder specified {num:03} is not. That is an interesting ValueError though, if you remove the : the interesting error is replaced by a standard KeyError.