Positional formatting is a method of formatting strings in Python that allows you to specify the position of the values in the format string. This is done by using index numbers in the curly braces {} that indicate the position of the value in the format string. Here's an example:

name = "Alice"
age = 25
print("My name is {0} and I am {1} years old.".format(name, age))

In this example, {0} is used as a placeholder for the name variable and {1} is used as a placeholder for the age variable. The format() method takes two arguments: name and age, which are inserted in the order specified in the placeholders.

You can also use the index numbers to specify the order of the values in the format string. Here's an example:

name = "Bob"
age = 30
print("My name is {1} and I am {0} years old.".format(age, name))

In this example, {1} is used as a placeholder for the name variable and {0} is used as a placeholder for the age variable. The format() method takes two arguments: age and name, which are inserted in the order specified in the placeholders.

Positional formatting can be particularly useful when you have a large number of variables to insert into a format string and want to specify their order explicitly. However, it can also make the format string harder to read, especially if there are many placeholders and variables. In such cases, you may prefer to use named placeholders or f-strings, which can be more readable and maintainable.