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# Formatting Coordinate Strings

Getting a string representation of a coordinate is most powerfully approached by treating the components (e.g., RA and Dec) separately.

## Examples

To get the string representation of a coordinate:

    >>> from astropy.coordinates import ICRS
    >>> from astropy import units as u
    >>> coo = ICRS(187.70592*u.degree, 12.39112*u.degree)
    >>> str(coo.ra) + ' ' + str(coo.dec)
    '187d42m21.312s 12d23m28.032s'

To get better control over the formatting, you can use the angles’ `to_string()` method (see Working with Angles for more). For example:

    >>> rahmsstr = coo.ra.to_string(u.hour)
    >>> str(rahmsstr)
    '12h30m49.4208s'
    >>> decdmsstr = coo.dec.to_string(u.degree, alwayssign=True)
    >>> str(decdmsstr)
    '+12d23m28.032s'
    >>> rahmsstr + ' ' + decdmsstr
    u'12h30m49.4208s +12d23m28.032s'

You can also use Python’s `format` string method to create more complex string expressions, such as IAU-style coordinates or even full sentences:

    >>> (f'SDSS J{coo.ra.to_string(unit=u.hourangle, sep="", precision=2, pad=True)}'
    ...  f'{coo.dec.to_string(sep="", precision=2, alwayssign=True, pad=True)}')
    'SDSS J123049.42+122328.03'
    >>> f'The galaxy M87, at an RA of {coo.ra.hour:.2f} hours and Dec of {coo.dec.deg:.1f} degrees, has an impressive jet.'
    'The galaxy M87, at an RA of 12.51 hours and Dec of 12.4 degrees, has an impressive jet.'