logo

Python Strings


Show

Strings are among the fewest favorite types in Python. We can make them merely by enclosing characters in quotes. Python goodies a single quotes the identical as double-quotes. Developing strings is as easy as deploying a value to a variable. For example :

var1 = 'Hello World!'
var2 = "Python Programming"

Accessing Values in Strings

Python does not render a character type; such characters are used as strings of length one, hence, it is considered a substring.

To right substrings, utilize the square brackets for slicing along with the index or indices to acquire your substring. For instance :

#!/usr/bin/python

var1 = 'Hello World!'
var2 = "Python Programming"

print "var1[0]: ", var1[0]
print "var2[1:5]: ", var2[1:5]

When the aforementioned code is processed, it supplies the following result :

var1[0]:  H
var2[1:5]:  ytho

Updating Strings

You can "update" an existent string by (re)allocating a variable to another string. The new value can be related to its former value or to an entirely different string altogether. For instance :

#!/usr/bin/python

var1 = 'Hello World!'
print "Updated String :- ", var1[:6] + 'Python'

When the above code is processed, it supplies the following result :

Updated String :-  Hello Python

Escape Characters

The following table is a list of running away or non-printable characters that can be stood for with backslash notation.

An escape character attains interpreted; in single-quoted and double-quoted strings.

Backslash notation

Hexadecimal character

Description

\a

0x07

Bell or alert

\b

0x08

Backspace

\cx


Control-x

\C-x


Control-x

\e

0x1b

Escape

\f

0x0c

Formfeed

\M-\C-x


Meta-Control-x

\n

0x0a

Newline

\nnn


Octal notation, where n is in the range 0.7

\r

0x0d

Carriage return

\s

0x20

Space

\t

0x09

Tab

\v

0x0b

Vertical tab

\x


Character x

\xnn


Hexadecimal notation, where n is in the range 0.9, a.f, or A.F

String Special Operators

Assume string variable a holds 'Hello' and variable b holds 'Python', then-

Operator

Description

Example

+

Concatenation - Adds values on either side of the operator

a + b will give HelloPython

*

Repetition - creates new strings, concatenating multiple copies of the same string

a*2 will give-HelloHello

[]

Slice - Gives the character from the given index

a[1] will give e

[ : ]

Range Slice - Gives the characters from the given range

a[1:4] will give ell

in

Membership - Returns true if a character exists in the given string

H in a will give 1

not in

Membership - Returns true if a character does not exist in the given string

M not in a will give 1

r/R

Raw String - Suppresses actual meaning of Escape characters. The syntax for raw strings is exactly the same as for normal strings with the exception of the raw string operator, the letter "r," which precedes the quotation marks. The "r" can be lowercase (r) or uppercase (R) and must be placed immediately preceding the first quote mark.

print r'\n' prints \n and print R'\n'prints \n

%

Format - Performs String formatting

See at next section

String Formatting Operator

One of Python's relaxing features is the string format operator %. This operator is alone to strings and sorts up for the pack of possessing functions from C's printf() family. Following is a simple example :

#!/usr/bin/python

print "My name is %s and weight is %d kg!" % ('Zara', 50)

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result :

My name is Zara and weight is 50 kg!

Here is the list of ranks set of symbols which can be used along with % :

Format Symbol

Conversion

%c

Character

%s

string conversion via str() prior to formatting

%i

signed decimal integer

%d

signed decimal integer

%u

unsigned decimal integer

%o

octal integer

%x

hexadecimal integer (lowercase letters)

%X

hexadecimal integer (UPPERcase letters)

%e

exponential notation (with lowercase 'e')

%E

exponential notation (with UPPERcase 'E')

%f

floating-point real number

%g

the shorter of %f and %e

%G

the shorter of %f and %E

Other supported symbols and functionality are listed in the following table?

Symbol

Functionality

*

the argument specifies width or precision

-

left justification

+

display the sign


leave a blank space before a positive number

#

add the octal leading zero ( '0' ) or hexadecimal leading '0x' or '0X', depending on whether 'x' or 'X' were used.

0

pad from left with zeros (instead of spaces)

%

'%%' leaves you with a single literal '%'

(var)

mapping variable (dictionary arguments)

m.n.

m is the minimum total width and n is the number of digits to display after the decimal point (if appl.)

Triple Quotes

Python's triple quotes embrace the release by enabling strings to span multiple lines, incorporating verbatim at any different special characters, NEWLINEs, and TABs,

The syntax for triple quotes is always constituted with three consecutive single or double quotes.

#!/usr/bin/python

para_str = """this is a long string that is made up of
several lines and non-printable characters such as
TAB ( \t ) and they will show up that way when displayed.
NEWLINEs within the string, whether explicitly given like
this within the brackets [ \n ], or just a NEWLINE within
the variable assignment will also show up.
"""
print para_str

When the aforementioned code is preceded, it supplies the displayed result. Note how every single special character has been altered to its printed form, right down to the last NEWLINE at the end of the string between the "up." and closing triple quotes. Also, note that NEWLINEs occur either with an explicit carriage return at the end of a line or its escape code (\n) �

this is a long string that is made up of
several lines and non-printable characters such as
TAB (    ) and they will show up that way when displayed.
NEWLINEs within the string, whether explicitly given like
this within the brackets [
 ], or just a NEWLINE within
the variable assignment will also show up.

Raw strings do not treat the backslash as a special character at all. Every character you put into a raw string stays the way you wrote it :

#!/usr/bin/python

print 'C:\\nowhere'

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result :

C:\\nowhere

Now let's make use of raw string. We would put an expression in expression as follows :

#!/usr/bin/python

print r'C:\\nowhere'

Unicode String

Normal strings in Python are stored internally as 8-bit ASCII, while Unicode strings are stored as 16-bit Unicode. This allows for a more varied set of characters, including special characters from most languages in the world. I'll restrict my treatment of Unicode strings to the following :

#!/usr/bin/python

print u'Hello, world!'

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result :

Hello, world!

As you can see, Unicode strings use the prefix u, just as raw strings use the prefix r.

Built-in String Methods

Python includes the following built-in methods to manipulate strings :

Sr.No.

Methods with Description

1

capitalize()

Capitalizes the first letter of the string

2

center(width, fillchar)

Returns a space-padded string with the original string centered to a total of width columns.

3

count(str, beg= 0,end=len(string))

Counts how many times str occurs in string or in a substring of string if starting index beg and ending index end are given.

4

decode(encoding='UTF-8',errors='strict')

Decodes the string using the codec registered for encoding. encoding defaults to the default string encoding.

5

encode(encoding='UTF-8',errors='strict')

Returns encoded string version of string; on error, default is to raise a ValueError unless errors are given with 'ignore' or 'replace'.

6

endswith(suffix, beg=0, end=len(string))

Determines if a string or a substring of string (if starting index beg and ending index end are given) ends with a suffix; returns true if so and false otherwise.

7

expandtabs(tabsize=8)

Expands tabs in the string to multiple spaces; defaults to 8 spaces per tab if tab size not provided.

8

find(str, beg=0 end=len(string))

Determine if str occurs in string or in a substring of string if starting index beg and ending index end are given returns index if found and -1 otherwise.

9

index(str, beg=0, end=len(string))

Same as find(), but raises an exception if str not found.

10

isalnum()

Returns true if the string has at least 1 character and all characters are alphanumeric and false otherwise.

11

isalpha()

Returns true if the string has at least 1 character and all characters are alphabetic and false otherwise.

12

isdigit()

Returns true if the string contains only digits and false otherwise.

13

islower()

Returns true if the string has at least 1 cased character and all cased characters are in lowercase and false otherwise.

14

isnumeric()

Returns true if a Unicode string contains only numeric characters and false otherwise.

15

isspace()

Returns true if the string contains only whitespace characters and false otherwise.

16

istitle()

Returns true if the string is properly "titlecased" and false otherwise.

17

isupper()

Returns true if the string has at least one cased character and all cased characters are in uppercase and false otherwise.

18

join(seq)

Merges (concatenates) the string representations of elements in sequence seq into a string, with separator string.

19

len(string)

Returns the length of the string

20

ljust(width[, fillchar])

Returns a space-padded string with the original string left-justified to a total of width columns.

21

lower()

Converts all uppercase letters in a string to lowercase.

22

lstrip()

Removes all leading whitespace in string.

23

maketrans()

Returns a translation table to be used in the translate function.

24

max(str)

Returns the max alphabetical character from the string str.

25

min(str)

Returns the min alphabetical character from the string str.

26

replace(old, new [, max])

Replaces all occurrences of old in string with new or at most max occurrences if max given.

27

rfind(str, beg=0,end=len(string))

Same as find(), but search backwards in string.

28

rindex( str, beg=0, end=len(string))

Same as index(), but search backwards in string.

29

rjust(width,[, fillchar])

Returns a space-padded string with the original string right-justified to a total of width columns.

30

rstrip()

Removes all trailing whitespace of string.

31

split(str="", num=string.count(str))

Splits string according to delimiter str (space if not provided) and returns a list of substrings; split into at most num substrings if given.

32

splitlines( num=string.count('\n'))

Splits string at all (or num) NEWLINEs and returns a list of each line with NEWLINEs removed.

33

startswith(str, beg=0,end=len(string))

Determines if a string or a substring of string (if starting index beg and ending index end are given) starts with substring str; returns true if so and false otherwise.

34

strip([chars])

Performs both lstrip() and rstrip() on string.

35

swapcase()

Inverts case for all letters in string.

36

title()

Returns "titlecased" version of the string, that is, all words begin with uppercase and the rest are lowercase.

37

translate(table, deletechars="")

Translates string according to translation table str(256 chars), removing those in the del string.

38

upper()

Converts lowercase letters in a string to uppercase.

39

zfill (width)

Returns original string left padded with zeros to a total of width characters; intended for numbers, zfill() retains any sign given (less one zero).

40

isdecimal()

Returns true if a Unicode string contains only decimal characters and false otherwise.

Here at Intellinuts, we have created a complete Python tutorial for Beginners to get started in Python.