diff --git a/Lib/string.py b/Lib/string.py
index 489777b10c25df7..6bad050eef5ca34 100644
--- a/Lib/string.py
+++ b/Lib/string.py
@@ -222,8 +222,13 @@ def _vformat(self, format_string, args, kwargs, used_args, recursion_depth,
 
     def get_value(self, key, args, kwargs):
         if isinstance(key, int):
+            # "1234[x]"
             return args[key]
+        elif key == "":
+            # "[x]"
+            return args[0]
         else:
+            # "abcd[x]"
             return kwargs[key]
 
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_string.py b/Lib/test/test_string.py
index 0be28fdb609eaee..bca5d165ab83a74 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_string.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_string.py
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ def test_index_lookup(self):
         fmt = string.Formatter()
         lookup = ["eggs", "and", "spam"]
         self.assertEqual(fmt.format("{0[2]}{0[0]}", lookup), 'spameggs')
+        self.assertEqual(fmt.format("{[2]}{1[0]}", lookup, (1, 2, 3)), 'spam1')
         with self.assertRaises(IndexError):
             fmt.format("{0[2]}{0[0]}", [])
         with self.assertRaises(KeyError):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-19-00-20-28.bpo-39985.4ki_Ed.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-19-00-20-28.bpo-39985.4ki_Ed.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000000..951e76acceaaef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2020-03-19-00-20-28.bpo-39985.4ki_Ed.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Make string.Formatter behave like str.format with anonymous subscripts.
\ No newline at end of file