diff --git a/Lib/string.py b/Lib/string.py
index 6570fef3c20..8b6343a4ed6 100644
--- a/Lib/string.py
+++ b/Lib/string.py
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ letters = lowercase + uppercase
 digits = '0123456789'
 hexdigits = digits + 'abcdef' + 'ABCDEF'
 octdigits = '01234567'
+punctuaction = """!"#$%&'()*+,-./:;<=>?@[\]^_`{|}~""" 
+printable = digits + letters + punctuation + whitespace
 
 # Case conversion helpers
 _idmap = ''