Python Strings |

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Harsh Mishra

Strings in Python

Strings in Python are a sequence of characters enclosed within single quotes ('), double quotes ("), triple single quotes ('''), or triple double quotes ("""). They are immutable, meaning once a string is created, it cannot be changed.

Basic String Creation

single_quote_str = 'Hello, World!'
double_quote_str = "Hello, World!"
triple_single_quote_str = '''Hello,
World!'''
triple_double_quote_str = """Hello,
World!"""

String Immutability

Once a string is created, you cannot change its individual characters.

s = "hello"
# s[0] = 'H'  # This will raise a TypeError

String Concatenation

You can concatenate strings using the + operator.

s1 = "Hello"
s2 = "World"
s3 = s1 + " " + s2  # "Hello World"

String Repetition

You can repeat strings using the * operator.

s = "Hello"
s2 = s * 3  # "HelloHelloHello"

Accessing Characters

You can access characters in a string using indexing.

s = "Hello, World!"
char = s[0]        # 'H'

Negative indexing can also be used to access characters from the end.

last_char = s[-1]  # '!'

Slicing Strings

Slicing allows you to get a substring from a string.

s = "Hello, World!"
substring = s[0:5]  # 'Hello'
substring = s[:5]   # 'Hello'
substring = s[7:]   # 'World!'
substring = s[::2]  # 'Hlo ol!'

String Length

You can get the length of a string using the len() function.

s = "Hello, World!"
length = len(s)  # 13

Escape Characters

Escape characters allow you to include special characters in strings.

newline = "Hello\nWorld!"       # Newline
tab = "Hello\tWorld!"           # Tab
quote = "He said, \"Hello!\""   # Double quote
backslash = "This is a backslash: \\"  # Backslash

Raw Strings

Raw strings treat backslashes as literal characters.

raw_str = r"C:\Users\name"  # "C:\\Users\\name"

String Membership

You can check if a substring exists within a string using the in and not in operators.

s = "Hello, World!"
result = "Hello" in s    # True
result = "Hi" not in s   # True

Iterating Through Strings

You can iterate through a string using a for loop.

s = "Hello"
for char in s:
    print(char)

String Comparison in Python

String comparison in Python is used to determine the relative order of two strings or to check for equality. Python uses lexicographical order to compare strings, meaning that strings are compared based on the order of their characters in the Unicode code point sequence.

Comparison Operators

Python provides several comparison operators that can be used to compare strings:

==: Equal
!=: Not equal
<: Less than
<=: Less than or equal to
>: Greater than
>=: Greater than or equal to

Lexicographical Order

When comparing strings lexicographically, Python compares character by character, starting from the first character of each string, using their Unicode code points.

Equal (==) and Not Equal (!=)

s1 = "apple"
s2 = "apple"
s3 = "banana"

print(s1 == s2)  # True
print(s1 == s3)  # False
print(s1 != s3)  # True

Less Than (<), Less Than or Equal To (<=)

s1 = "apple"
s2 = "banana"

print(s1 < s2)   # True, because 'a' < 'b'
print(s1 <= s2)  # True, because 'a' < 'b'

Greater Than (>), Greater Than or Equal To (>=)

s1 = "banana"
s2 = "apple"

print(s1 > s2)   # True, because 'b' > 'a'
print(s1 >= s2)  # True, because 'b' > 'a'

Case Sensitivity

String comparison in Python is case-sensitive, meaning uppercase and lowercase letters are treated as different characters with different Unicode code points.

s1 = "Apple"
s2 = "apple"

print(s1 == s2)  # False, because 'A' != 'a'
print(s1 < s2)   # True, because 'A' < 'a' in Unicode
print(s1 > s2)   # False, because 'A' < 'a' in Unicode

Unicode Code Points

Python compares strings based on Unicode code points. You can use the ord() function to get the Unicode code point of a character.

print(ord('a'))  # 97
print(ord('A'))  # 65

Comparing Strings of Different Lengths

When comparing strings of different lengths, Python compares each character in order until it reaches the end of one of the strings. If the compared characters are equal up to that point, the shorter string is considered less than the longer string.

s1 = "apple"
s2 = "apples"

print(s1 < s2)   # True, because 'apple' is shorter than 'apples'
print(s1 > s2)   # False, because 'apple' is shorter than 'apples'

Practical Examples

Using Comparison in Conditional Statements

password = "Secret123"
user_input = "secret123"

if user_input == password:
    print("Access granted")
else:
    print("Access denied")  # Output: Access denied (case-sensitive comparison)

Case-Insensitive Comparison

To perform a case-insensitive comparison, you can convert both strings to the same case (e.g., lower or upper) before comparing them.

s1 = "Apple"
s2 = "apple"

print(s1.lower() == s2.lower())  # True
print(s1.upper() == s2.upper())  # True

String Formatting in Python

String formatting is a powerful feature in Python that allows you to create complex strings with dynamic content. Python provides several ways to format strings, each with its own use cases and benefits. Here, we'll cover:

Old-style formatting (% operator)
str.format() method
Formatted string literals (f-strings)

1. Old-style Formatting (`%` operator)

Old-style formatting uses the % operator to insert values into a string. This method is similar to the C-style printf.

name = "Alice"
age = 30
formatted_str = "Name: %s, Age: %d" % (name, age)
print(formatted_str)  # Output: Name: Alice, Age: 30

Format Specifiers:

%s: String
%d: Integer
%f: Floating-point number
%x: Hexadecimal
%%: Literal % character

value = 12.3456
formatted_str = "Value: %.2f" % value  # Output: Value: 12.35

2. `str.format()` Method

The str.format() method is more powerful and flexible than the old-style % operator. It uses curly braces {} as placeholders within the string.

name = "Alice"
age = 30
formatted_str = "Name: {}, Age: {}".format(name, age)
print(formatted_str)  # Output: Name: Alice, Age: 30

Positional and Keyword Arguments:

You can use positional and keyword arguments to specify values.

# Positional arguments
formatted_str = "Name: {0}, Age: {1}".format(name, age)

# Keyword arguments
formatted_str = "Name: {name}, Age: {age}".format(name="Alice", age=30)

Reusing Arguments:

Arguments can be reused in the format string.

formatted_str = "Name: {0}, Age: {1}, Again Name: {0}".format(name, age)

Format Specifiers:

{:.2f}: Floating-point number with 2 decimal places
{:,}: Number with thousands separator
{:<10}: Left-align within 10 spaces
{:>10}: Right-align within 10 spaces
{:^10}: Center-align within 10 spaces

value = 12345.6789
formatted_str = "Value: {:.2f}".format(value)   # Output: Value: 12345.68
formatted_str = "Value: {:,}".format(value)     # Output: Value: 12,345.6789
formatted_str = "Value: {:<10}".format(value)   # Output: Value: 12345.6789 
formatted_str = "Value: {:>10}".format(value)   # Output: Value: 12345.6789
formatted_str = "Value: {:^10}".format(value)   # Output: Value: 12345.6789

3. Formatted String Literals (F-strings)

F-strings (formatted string literals), introduced in Python 3.6, provide a concise and readable way to embed expressions inside string literals using curly braces {}.

name = "Alice"
age = 30
formatted_str = f"Name: {name}, Age: {age}"
print(formatted_str)  # Output: Name: Alice, Age: 30

Expression Evaluation:

F-strings allow the inclusion of expressions inside the curly braces.

a = 5
b = 10
formatted_str = f"Sum: {a + b}"
print(formatted_str)  # Output: Sum: 15

Format Specifiers:

F-strings support the same format specifiers as str.format().

value = 12345.6789
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:.2f}"   # Output: Value: 12345.68
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:,}"     # Output: Value: 12,345.6789
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:<10}"   # Output: Value: 12345.6789 
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:>10}"   # Output: Value: 12345.6789
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:^10}"   # Output: Value: 12345.6789

Multi-line F-strings:

F-strings can span multiple lines using triple quotes.

name = "Alice"
age = 30
formatted_str = f"""
Name: {name}
Age: {age}
"""
print(formatted_str)

Advanced Formatting

Nested Formatting

You can nest formatting expressions for complex formatting scenarios.

width = 10
precision = 2
value = 12.34567
formatted_str = f"Value: {value:{width}.{precision}f}"  # Output: Value:      12.35

String Methods in Python

Capitalization and Case Conversion

capitalize()

Converts the first character of the string to uppercase.
Syntax: str.capitalize()

s = "hello"
print(s.capitalize())  # Output: "Hello"

lower()

Converts all characters of the string to lowercase.
Syntax: str.lower()

s = "HELLO"
print(s.lower())  # Output: "hello"

upper()

Converts all characters of the string to uppercase.
Syntax: str.upper()

s = "hello"
print(s.upper())  # Output: "HELLO"

islower()

Checks if all characters in the string are lowercase.
Syntax: str.islower()

s = "hello"
print(s.islower())  # Output: True

isupper()

Checks if all characters in the string are uppercase.
Syntax: str.isupper()

s = "HELLO"
print(s.isupper())  # Output: True

Alignment and Filling

center()

Centers the string within a specified width, padding with spaces or a specified character.
Syntax: str.center(width, fillchar)

s = "hello"
print(s.center(10))          # Output: "  hello   "
print(s.center(10, '*'))     # Output: "**hello***"

lstrip()

Removes leading whitespace or specified characters.
Syntax: str.lstrip([chars])

s = "  hello  "
print(s.lstrip())            # Output: "hello  "
s = "***hello***"
print(s.lstrip('*'))         # Output: "hello***"

rstrip()

Removes trailing whitespace or specified characters.
Syntax: str.rstrip([chars])

s = "  hello  "
print(s.rstrip())            # Output: "  hello"
s = "***hello***"
print(s.rstrip('*'))         # Output: "***hello"

strip()

Removes leading and trailing whitespace or specified characters.
Syntax: str.strip([chars])

s = "  hello  "
print(s.strip())             # Output: "hello"
s = "***hello***"
print(s.strip('*'))          # Output: "hello"

Searching and Counting

count()

Counts occurrences of a substring in the string.
Syntax: str.count(sub[, start[, end]])

s = "hello hello"
print(s.count("hello"))      # Output: 2

endswith()

Checks if the string ends with a specified suffix.
Syntax: str.endswith(suffix[, start[, end]])

s = "hello"
print(s.endswith("lo"))      # Output: True

find()

Finds the first occurrence of a substring. Returns -1 if not found.
Syntax: str.find(sub[, start[, end]])

s = "hello"
print(s.find("e"))           # Output: 1
print(s.find("a"))           # Output: -1

index()

Finds the first occurrence of a substring. Raises a ValueError if not found.
Syntax: str.index(sub[, start[, end]])

s = "hello"
print(s.index("e"))          # Output: 1
# print(s.index("a"))        # Raises ValueError

rfind()

Finds the last occurrence of a substring. Returns -1 if not found.
Syntax: str.rfind(sub[, start[, end]])

s = "hello hello"
print(s.rfind("hello"))      # Output: 6

rindex()

Finds the last occurrence of a substring. Raises a ValueError if not found.
Syntax: str.rindex(sub[, start[, end]])

s = "hello hello"
print(s.rindex("hello"))     # Output: 6
# print(s.rindex("world"))   # Raises ValueError

startswith()

Checks if the string starts with a specified prefix.
Syntax: str.startswith(prefix[, start[, end]])

s = "hello"
print(s.startswith("he"))    # Output: True

Type Checking

isalnum()

Checks if all characters in the string are alphanumeric.
Syntax: str.isalnum()

s = "hello123"
print(s.isalnum())           # Output: True
s = "hello 123"
print(s.isalnum())           # Output: False

isalpha()

Checks if all characters in the string are alphabetic.
Syntax: str.isalpha()

s = "hello"
print(s.isalpha())           # Output: True
s = "hello123"
print(s.isalpha())           # Output: False

isdecimal()

Checks if all characters in the string are decimal characters.
Syntax: str.isdecimal()

s = "123"
print(s.isdecimal())         # Output: True
s = "123.45"
print(s.isdecimal())         # Output: False

isdigit()

Checks if all characters in the string are digits.
Syntax: str.isdigit()

s = "123"
print(s.isdigit())           # Output: True
s = "123.45"
print(s.isdigit())           # Output: False

isspace()

Checks if all characters in the string are whitespace.
Syntax: str.isspace()

s = "   "
print(s.isspace())           # Output: True
s = "  a "
print(s.isspace())           # Output: False

Joining and Splitting

join()

Joins elements of an iterable with the string as a delimiter.
Syntax: str.join(iterable)

s = "-"
seq = ["a", "b", "c"]
print(s.join(seq))           # Output: "a-b-c"

split()

Splits the string at the specified delimiter and returns a list.
Syntax: str.split(sep[, maxsplit])

s = "a-b-c"
print(s.split("-"))          # Output: ["a", "b", "c"]

Replacing

replace()

Replaces occurrences of a substring with another substring.
Syntax: str.replace(old, new[, count])

s = "hello world"
print(s.replace("world", "there"))  # Output: "hello there"

Formatting

format()

Formats the string using placeholders.
Syntax: str.format(*args, **kwargs)

s = "Hello, {}"
print(s.format("Alice"))     # Output: "Hello, Alice"

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Harsh Mishra

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Strings in Python

Basic String Creation

String Immutability

String Concatenation

String Repetition

Accessing Characters

Slicing Strings

String Length

Escape Characters

Raw Strings

String Membership

Iterating Through Strings

String Comparison in Python

Comparison Operators

Lexicographical Order

Case Sensitivity

Unicode Code Points

Comparing Strings of Different Lengths

Practical Examples

String Formatting in Python

1. Old-style Formatting (% operator)

2. str.format() Method

3. Formatted String Literals (F-strings)

Advanced Formatting

Nested Formatting

String Methods in Python

Capitalization and Case Conversion

Alignment and Filling

Searching and Counting

Type Checking

Joining and Splitting

Replacing

Formatting

Related Posts

1. Old-style Formatting (`%` operator)

2. `str.format()` Method