In python, how do you put variables in strings?

It should be very simple, but I seem to be missing it. In perl it would look like this:

$name = (whatever name you input)
$age = (again, whatever you input previously)

then you could display it like:

print "Hello $name, you are $age years old."

I know python could do

print "Hello",name,"you are",age,"years old."

But that doesnt cut it, since it always adds spaces.

print "Hello",name,"!"

whould print:

Hello Jack !

Dont ask me why python forces spaces in there.. is there anyway to just call variables within strings like in perl?

It is very simple: Just use string format characters.

In this example:
print 'Hello %s, you are %s years old.' % (name, age)

You could also use string concatenation like this:
print 'Hello '+name+', you are '+age+' years old.'
But this is slower, and IMO less readable.