bash - Parameter Expansion With Python -

i trying write script takes word , prints first 3 characters, last 3 characters, , whatever lies in middle in dots:

abracabra

abr...bra

i made work,

word = input("what's word ?") first = str(word[0:3]) last = str(word[-3:]) middle = int(len(word)-6) middots = "." * (middle) print((first)+(middots)+(last)) 

but on 1 line, can in bash, example returns list of network interfaces:

intfaces=$(/sbin/ifconfig -a | sed 's/[ \t].*//;/^\(lo\|\)$/d')  

how do python? tried this, did not work:

word = input("what's word ?") middots = "." * (int(len(word)-6)) print(str(word[0:3])+(middots)+ str(word[-3:])) 

what correct syntax?

edit

thanks helping me not correct, understand well. here ended going with...

def print_dotted_word():     word = str(input("what's word ?"))     if len(word)<7:         raise valueerror("needs @ least 7 letters.")     print(word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:])  while true:     try:         print_dotted_word()         break     except valueerror:("needs @ least 7 letters.") 

you can following:

word = input("what's word ?") if len(word)<7:     raise valueerror("please enter word greater 6 characters") print(word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:]) 

here, raise valueerror exception if word entered less 7 characters.

we can check in python shell enclosing code in function print_dotted_word().

python 2.7:

in [1]: def print_dotted_word():             word = raw_input("what's word ? \n") # use raw_input             if len(word)<7: # check word length                 raise valueerror("please enter word greater 6 characters") # raise exception             print word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:] # print desired response  in [2]: print_dotted_word() what's word ?  helloworld hel....rld  in [3]: print_dotted_word() what's word ?  hello --------------------------------------------------------------------------- valueerror                                traceback (most recent call last) ----> 1 print_dotted_word()       2     word = raw_input("what's word ? \n")       3     if len(word)<7: ----> 4         raise valueerror("please enter word greater 6 characters")       5     print word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:]  valueerror: please enter word greater 6 characters 

python 3.4:

in [1]: def print_dotted_word():             word = input("what's word ? \n") # use input here             if len(word)<7: # check word length                 raise valueerror("please enter word greater 6 characters") # raise exception              print(word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:]) # print desired response  in [2]: print_dotted_word() what's word ?  helloworld hel....rld  in [3]: print_dotted_word() what's word ?  hello --------------------------------------------------------------------------- valueerror                                traceback (most recent call last) ----> 1 print_dotted_word()       2     word = input("what's word ? \n")       3     if len(word)<7: ----> 4         raise valueerror("please enter word greater 6 characters")       5     print(word[:3] + '.'*(len(word)-6) + word[-3:])       6  valueerror: please enter word greater 6 characters