New to python and need help with spacing

[perfringo]

For me it smells like homework. So I provide one partial way to do it - how to print rectangle, but without center.

def do_rectangle(height=5, width=7, characters='GIS'):
    inner_width = len(characters) * (width - 2) + width - 1
    for i in range(height):
        if i in (0, height-1):
            print(' '.join(characters for i in range(width)))
        else:
            print(f'{characters}{" "*inner_width}{characters}')

do_rectangle()        
do_rectangle(height=5, width=5, characters='*')

Output:
GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS
GIS                     GIS
GIS                     GIS
GIS                     GIS
GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS GIS
* * * * *
*       *
*       *
*       *
* * * * *

It's matter of defensiveness how to deal with negative width.