print statement in python, a space is written before the object is writen unless

From the docs.

A space is written before each object is (converted and) written, unless the output system believes it is positioned at the beginning of a line. This is the case (1) when no characters have yet been written to standard output, (2) when the last character written to standard output is a whitespace character except ' ', or (3) when the last write operation on standard output was not a print statement.

But I don't understand what the (2) means...

when the last character written to standard output is a whitespace character except ' '