python
@@ -328,6 +328,14 @@ The :mod:`functools` module defines the following functions:
       Returning ``NotImplemented`` from the underlying comparison function for
       unrecognised types is now supported.
 
+.. data:: Placeholder
+
+   A singleton object used as a sentinel to reserve a place
+   for positional arguments when calling :func:`partial`
+   and :func:`partialmethod`.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.14
+
 .. function:: partial(func, /, *args, **keywords)
 
    Return a new :ref:`partial object<partial-objects>` which when called
@@ -338,26 +346,67 @@ The :mod:`functools` module defines the following functions:
    Roughly equivalent to::
 
       def partial(func, /, *args, **keywords):
-          def newfunc(*fargs, **fkeywords):
-              newkeywords = {**keywords, **fkeywords}
-              return func(*args, *fargs, **newkeywords)
+          def newfunc(*more_args, **more_keywords):
+              keywords_union = {**keywords, **more_keywords}
+              return func(*args, *more_args, **keywords_union)
           newfunc.func = func
           newfunc.args = args
           newfunc.keywords = keywords
           return newfunc
 
-   The :func:`partial` is used for partial function application which "freezes"
+   The :func:`partial` function is used for partial function application which "freezes"
    some portion of a function's arguments and/or keywords resulting in a new object
    with a simplified signature.  For example, :func:`partial` can be used to create
    a callable that behaves like the :func:`int` function where the *base* argument
-   defaults to two:
+   defaults to ``2``:
+
+   .. doctest::
 
-      >>> from functools import partial
       >>> basetwo = partial(int, base=2)
       >>> basetwo.__doc__ = 'Convert base 2 string to an int.'
       >>> basetwo('10010')
       18
 
+   If :data:`Placeholder` sentinels are present in *args*, they will be filled first
+   when :func:`partial` is called. This allows custom selection of positional arguments
+   to be pre-filled when constructing a :ref:`partial object <partial-objects>`.
+
+   If :data:`!Placeholder` sentinels are present, all of them must be filled at call time:
+
+   .. doctest::
+
+      >>> say_to_world = partial(print, Placeholder, Placeholder, "world!")
+      >>> say_to_world('Hello', 'dear')
+      Hello dear world!
+
+   Calling ``say_to_world('Hello')`` would raise a :exc:`TypeError`, because
+   only one positional argument is provided, while there are two placeholders
+   in :ref:`partial object <partial-objects>`.
+
+   Successive :func:`partial` applications fill :data:`!Placeholder` sentinels
+   of the input :func:`partial` objects with new positional arguments.
+   A place for positional argument can be retained by inserting new
+   :data:`!Placeholder` sentinel to the place held by previous :data:`!Placeholder`:
+
+   .. doctest::
+
+      >>> from functools import partial, Placeholder as _
+      >>> remove = partial(str.replace, _, _, '')
+      >>> message = 'Hello, dear dear world!'
+      >>> remove(message, ' dear')
+      'Hello, world!'
+      >>> remove_dear = partial(remove, _, ' dear')
+      >>> remove_dear(message)
+      'Hello, world!'
+      >>> remove_first_dear = partial(remove_dear, _, 1)
+      >>> remove_first_dear(message)
+      'Hello, dear world!'
+
+   Note, :data:`!Placeholder` has no special treatment when used for keyword
+   argument of :data:`!Placeholder`.
+
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.14
+      Added support for :data:`Placeholder` in positional arguments.
 
 .. class:: partialmethod(func, /, *args, **keywords)
 
@@ -742,10 +791,7 @@ have three read-only attributes:
    The keyword arguments that will be supplied when the :class:`partial` object is
    called.
 
-:class:`partial` objects are like :ref:`function objects <user-defined-funcs>`
-in that they are callable, weak referenceable, and can have attributes.
-There are some important differences.  For instance, the
-:attr:`~function.__name__` and :attr:`function.__doc__` attributes
-are not created automatically.  Also, :class:`partial` objects defined in
-classes behave like static methods and do not transform into bound methods
-during instance attribute look-up.
+:class:`partial` objects are like :class:`function` objects in that they are
+callable, weak referenceable, and can have attributes.  There are some important
+differences.  For instance, the :attr:`~definition.__name__` and :attr:`__doc__` attributes
+are not created automatically.
@@ -255,6 +255,15 @@ Added support for converting any objects that have the
 (Contributed by Serhiy Storchaka in :gh:`82017`.)
 
 
+functools
+---------
+
+* Added support to :func:`functools.partial` and
+  :func:`functools.partialmethod` for :data:`functools.Placeholder` sentinels
+  to reserve a place for positional arguments.
+  (Contributed by Dominykas Grigonis in :gh:`119127`.)
+
+
 http
 ----
 

@@ -6,17 +6,18 @@
 # Written by Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com>,
 # Raymond Hettinger <python at rcn.com>,
 # and Łukasz Langa <lukasz at langa.pl>.
-#   Copyright (C) 2006-2013 Python Software Foundation.
+#   Copyright (C) 2006-2024 Python Software Foundation.
 # See C source code for _functools credits/copyright
 
 __all__ = ['update_wrapper', 'wraps', 'WRAPPER_ASSIGNMENTS', 'WRAPPER_UPDATES',
            'total_ordering', 'cache', 'cmp_to_key', 'lru_cache', 'reduce',
            'partial', 'partialmethod', 'singledispatch', 'singledispatchmethod',
-           'cached_property']
+           'cached_property', 'Placeholder']
 
 from abc import get_cache_token
 from collections import namedtuple
 # import types, weakref  # Deferred to single_dispatch()
+from operator import itemgetter
 from reprlib import recursive_repr
 from types import MethodType
 from _thread import RLock
@@ -274,43 +275,125 @@ def reduce(function, sequence, initial=_initial_missing):
 ### partial() argument application
 ################################################################################
 
-# Purely functional, no descriptor behaviour
-class partial:
-    """New function with partial application of the given arguments
-    and keywords.
+
+class _PlaceholderType:
+    """The type of the Placeholder singleton.
+
+    Used as a placeholder for partial arguments.
     """
+    __instance = None
+    __slots__ = ()
+
+    def __init_subclass__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
+        raise TypeError(f"type '{cls.__name__}' is not an acceptable base type")
 
-    __slots__ = "func", "args", "keywords", "__dict__", "__weakref__"
+    def __new__(cls):
+        if cls.__instance is None:
+            cls.__instance = object.__new__(cls)
+        return cls.__instance
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return 'Placeholder'
 
-    def __new__(cls, func, /, *args, **keywords):
+    def __reduce__(self):
+        return 'Placeholder'
+
+Placeholder = _PlaceholderType()
+
+def _partial_prepare_merger(args):
+    if not args:
+        return 0, None
+    nargs = len(args)
+    order = []
+    j = nargs
+    for i, a in enumerate(args):
+        if a is Placeholder:
+            order.append(j)
+            j += 1
+        else:
+            order.append(i)
+    phcount = j - nargs
+    merger = itemgetter(*order) if phcount else None
+    return phcount, merger
+
+def _partial_new(cls, func, /, *args, **keywords):
+    if issubclass(cls, partial):
+        base_cls = partial
         if not callable(func):
             raise TypeError("the first argument must be callable")
+    else:
+        base_cls = partialmethod
+        # func could be a descriptor like classmethod which isn't callable
+        if not callable(func) and not hasattr(func, "__get__"):
+            raise TypeError(f"the first argument {func!r} must be a callable "
+                            "or a descriptor")
+    if args and args[-1] is Placeholder:
+        raise TypeError("trailing Placeholders are not allowed")
+    if isinstance(func, base_cls):
+        pto_phcount = func._phcount
+        tot_args = func.args
+        if args:
+            tot_args += args
+            if pto_phcount:
+                # merge args with args of `func` which is `partial`
+                nargs = len(args)
+                if nargs < pto_phcount:
+                    tot_args += (Placeholder,) * (pto_phcount - nargs)
+                tot_args = func._merger(tot_args)
+                if nargs > pto_phcount:
+                    tot_args += args[pto_phcount:]
+            phcount, merger = _partial_prepare_merger(tot_args)
+        else:   # works for both pto_phcount == 0 and != 0
+            phcount, merger = pto_phcount, func._merger
+        keywords = {**func.keywords, **keywords}
+        func = func.func
+    else:
+        tot_args = args
+        phcount, merger = _partial_prepare_merger(tot_args)
+
+    self = object.__new__(cls)
+    self.func = func
+    self.args = tot_args
+    self.keywords = keywords
+    self._phcount = phcount
+    self._merger = merger
+    return self
+
+def _partial_repr(self):
+    cls = type(self)
+    module = cls.__module__
+    qualname = cls.__qualname__
+    args = [repr(self.func)]
+    args.extend(map(repr, self.args))
+    args.extend(f"{k}={v!r}" for k, v in self.keywords.items())
+    return f"{module}.{qualname}({', '.join(args)})"
 
-        if isinstance(func, partial):
-            args = func.args + args
-            keywords = {**func.keywords, **keywords}
-            func = func.func
+# Purely functional, no descriptor behaviour
+class partial:
+    """New function with partial application of the given arguments
+    and keywords.
+    """
 
-        self = super(partial, cls).__new__(cls)
+    __slots__ = ("func", "args", "keywords", "_phcount", "_merger",
+                 "__dict__", "__weakref__")
 
-        self.func = func
-        self.args = args
-        self.keywords = keywords
-        return self
+    __new__ = _partial_new
+    __repr__ = recursive_repr()(_partial_repr)
 
     def __call__(self, /, *args, **keywords):
+        phcount = self._phcount
+        if phcount:
+            try:
+                pto_args = self._merger(self.args + args)
+                args = args[phcount:]
+            except IndexError:
+                raise TypeError("missing positional arguments "
+                                "in 'partial' call; expected "
+                                f"at least {phcount}, got {len(args)}")
+        else:
+            pto_args = self.args
         keywords = {**self.keywords, **keywords}
-        return self.func(*self.args, *args, **keywords)
-
-    @recursive_repr()
-    def __repr__(self):
-        cls = type(self)
-        qualname = cls.__qualname__
-        module = cls.__module__
-        args = [repr(self.func)]
-        args.extend(repr(x) for x in self.args)
-        args.extend(f"{k}={v!r}" for (k, v) in self.keywords.items())
-        return f"{module}.{qualname}({', '.join(args)})"
+        return self.func(*pto_args, *args, **keywords)
 
     def __get__(self, obj, objtype=None):
         if obj is None:
@@ -332,6 +415,10 @@ def __setstate__(self, state):
            (namespace is not None and not isinstance(namespace, dict))):
             raise TypeError("invalid partial state")
 
+        if args and args[-1] is Placeholder:
+            raise TypeError("trailing Placeholders are not allowed")
+        phcount, merger = _partial_prepare_merger(args)
+
         args = tuple(args) # just in case it's a subclass
         if kwds is None:
             kwds = {}
@@ -344,53 +431,40 @@ def __setstate__(self, state):
         self.func = func
         self.args = args
         self.keywords = kwds
+        self._phcount = phcount
+        self._merger = merger
 
 try:
-    from _functools import partial
+    from _functools import partial, Placeholder, _PlaceholderType
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
 # Descriptor version
-class partialmethod(object):
+class partialmethod:
     """Method descriptor with partial application of the given arguments
     and keywords.
 
     Supports wrapping existing descriptors and handles non-descriptor
     callables as instance methods.
     """
-
-    def __init__(self, func, /, *args, **keywords):
-        if not callable(func) and not hasattr(func, "__get__"):
-            raise TypeError("{!r} is not callable or a descriptor"
-                                 .format(func))
-
-        # func could be a descriptor like classmethod which isn't callable,
-        # so we can't inherit from partial (it verifies func is callable)
-        if isinstance(func, partialmethod):
-            # flattening is mandatory in order to place cls/self before all
-            # other arguments
-            # it's also more efficient since only one function will be called
-            self.func = func.func
-            self.args = func.args + args
-            self.keywords = {**func.keywords, **keywords}
-        else:
-            self.func = func
-            self.args = args
-            self.keywords = keywords
-
-    def __repr__(self):
-        cls = type(self)
-        module = cls.__module__
-        qualname = cls.__qualname__
-        args = [repr(self.func)]
-        args.extend(map(repr, self.args))
-        args.extend(f"{k}={v!r}" for k, v in self.keywords.items())
-        return f"{module}.{qualname}({', '.join(args)})"
+    __new__ = _partial_new
+    __repr__ = _partial_repr
 
     def _make_unbound_method(self):
         def _method(cls_or_self, /, *args, **keywords):
+            phcount = self._phcount
+            if phcount:
+                try:
+                    pto_args = self._merger(self.args + args)
+                    args = args[phcount:]
+                except IndexError:
+                    raise TypeError("missing positional arguments "
+                                    "in 'partialmethod' call; expected "
+                                    f"at least {phcount}, got {len(args)}")
+            else:
+                pto_args = self.args
             keywords = {**self.keywords, **keywords}
-            return self.func(cls_or_self, *self.args, *args, **keywords)
+            return self.func(cls_or_self, *pto_args, *args, **keywords)
         _method.__isabstractmethod__ = self.__isabstractmethod__
         _method.__partialmethod__ = self
         return _method