STRINGS
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this chapter students will be able to understand
● Declaration of strings
● Formatting of strings
● Accessing elements from string
○ Indexing method
○ Slicing method
● Addition to a string
● Updating a string
● Deleting a string
● Traversing a string
○ Using for loop
○ using while loop
● String operators
○ Concatenation
○ Repetition
○ Membership (in/not in)
○ Raw String
● String functions
○ len(), capitalize(), istitle(), title()
○ isalnum(), isalpha(), isdigit()
○ lower(), upper(), islower(), isupper(), swapcase()
○ find(sub[, start[, end]]), index(value, start, end), count(substring, start, end)
○ strip(), lstrip(), rstrip(), isspace()
○ join(), replace(old,new), partition(sep), split([sep[, maxsplit]])
Python string is a sequence of characters enclosed in quotes.
● Strings are immutable i.e. the contents of the string cannot be changed after it is created.
● Python does not support character data type. A string of size 1 can be treated as characters.
DECLARING STRINGS
Strings are declared/created by enclosing sequence of characters in quotes.
NOTE : Python treats single quotes the same as double quotes. Triple quotes can be used in Python but
they are generally used to represent multiline strings and docstrings.
EXAMPLE
>>> str1="Keep your city clean and green"
>>> print(str1)
Keep your city clean and green
>>> my_str = """Hello, welcome to
the world of Python"""
>>> print(my_str)
Hello, welcome to
the world of Python
USING INPUT() METHOD
The input() method is used to input string from a keyboard and assign to the string variable present on the
left hand side.
>>> str5=input("Enter string")
Enter string "I am learning Python"
>>> print(str5)
"I am learning Python"
Here the string entered "I am learning Python" is assigned to string variable str5.
NOTE : It is mandatory to enclose the given input i.e. hello in quotes otherwise Python interpreter will not
be able to associate appropriate data type with the entered data and results in error.
Python String Formatting
Escape Sequence
If special characters like single quotes, double quotes, forward and backward slash etc. are part of a string
then it poses problems.
One way to get around this problem is to use triple quotes. Alternatively, we can use escape sequences.
An escape sequence starts with a backslash.
Escape Sequence in Python
quence n
and newline ignored
te
space
feed
eed
age Return
zontal Tab
cal Tab
>>> print('''Ram said, "What's the matter''')
Ram said, "What's the matter''
Here string is enclosed in triple quotes so we can easily use any special character.
>>> print("Ram said, \"what's the matter\" ")
Ram said, "what's the matter"
Here string is enclosed in double quotes so need to use escape sequence character \ before all double
quotes appearing in the string.
>>> print ('Ram said, "What\'s the matter" ')
Ram said, "What's the matter"
Here string is enclosed in single quotes so need to use escape sequence character \ before all single
quotes appearing in the string.
>>> print("We must keep our city \n CLEAN and GREEN")
We must keep our city
CLEAN and GREEN
Here \n is a new line character and text following it comes to the next line. Thus " CLEAN and GREEN" is
coming to the next line.
ACCESSING ELEMENTS FROM STRING
INDEXING METHOD
Elements of a string can be accessed using an indexing method.
● String indices start at 0.
● The string index has to be a positive or negative integer value or an expression which evaluates to
an integer value.
● Positive value of index means counting forward from beginning of the string and negative value
means counting backward from end of the string.
● An Index Error appears, if we try to access element that does not exist in the string.
If the total number of elements in the string is max, then:
e the list
Considering the following example:
str1= "Hello Python"
SLICING METHOD
Slicing is used to retrieve a subset of values. A slice of a string is basically its sub-string.
SYNTAX
string-name[start: stop: step]
where
start is the starting point
stop is the stopping point
step is the step size - also known as stride
NOTE:
● If you omit first index, slice starts from “0” and omitting of stop will take it to end. Default value of
step is 1.
● It includes the first element but excludes the last element.
EXAMPLE
Consider a string str1 with values
str1= "Hello Python"
on'
m beginning till end in step 2)
m end till beginning in step 2)
ADDITION TO A STRING
We can only add characters to the end of the string using a concatenation operator '+'. It is not possible to
add new characters in the beginning or in between the existing string.
>>> str1="Keep your city clean and green."
>>> str1=str1+" Thanks"
>>> print(str1)
Keep your city clean and green. Thanks
UPDATING A STRING
Strings are immutable. This means that elements of a string cannot be changed once it has been
assigned. We can simply reassign different strings to the same name.
EXAMPLE
>>> str="aasdfd"
>>> str[1]='q'
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#62>", line 1, in <module>
str[1]='q'
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment
>>> str="aasdfd"
>>> str="Learning Python"
>>> print(str)
Learning Python
DELETING A STRING
We cannot delete or remove characters from a string. But deleting the string entirely is possible using the
keyword del.
EXAMPLE
>>> del(str5[1]) # deleting an element from a string
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#104>", line 1, in <module>
del(str5[1])
TypeError: 'str' object doesn't support item deletion
>>> del str1 # deleting a string
>>> print(str1)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#102>", line 1, in <module>
print(str1)
NameError: name 'str1' is not defined
TRAVERSING A STRING
Traversing a string means accessing all the elements of the string one after the other by using the
index/subscript. A string can be traversed using either a for loop or a while loop.
TRAVERSING A STRING USING FOR LOOP
EXAMPLE
str1="Hello Python"
for i in str1:
print(i)
OUTPUT
l
l
TRAVERSING A STRING USING WHILE LOOP
EXAMPLE
str1="Hello Python"
i=0
while i<len(str1):
print(str1[i])
i=i+1
OUTPUT
o
P
STRING OPERATORS
Consider the following declarations:
>>> str1="Tech"
>>> str2="Era"
tion (+) - Joins the strings on either sideTech"
Era"
tr2
tr2+str1
tr3)
(*) - Concatenates/multiplies multiple cop
given number of times
ip (in) - Returns true if a character exists tr1
r1
ip (not in) - Returns true if a character doin str1
given string
n str1
STRIING FUNCTIONS
Note: For all the functions except len() function, import string statement is required for successful
execution.
lstrip([char])
ION
TechEra'
length of the string. 3)
tr4.capitalize())
tring with the first letter in uppercase and018
wercase.
ech era *2018*'
e if the string contains only letters and digtr5.isalnum())
se ,If the string contains any special chara
ech era *2018*'
e if the string contains only alphabets othtr5.isalpha())
se.
TechEra'
tr3.isalpha())
2345'
e if the string contains only numbers. Othtr6.isdigit())
se.
tr3.lower())
copy of the string with all the letters in lo
tr3.upper())
copy of the string with all the letters in up
ech era *2018*'
e if the string is in lowercase. tr5.islower())
ech era *2018*'
e if the string is in uppercase. tr5.isupper())
start[, end]]) ech era *2018*'
he first occurrence of the substring in thend('ch')
urns the index at which the substring star
the substring does occur in the string.
nd('*')
parameter is omitted, the function starts th
ginning.
ring is present multiple times in the string,
es the position of first occurrence. nd('*', 10)
]) tech era *2018* '
string after removing the space(s) on therip()
f the string. The parameter char is optiona
d to specify the a set of characters to be 2018*'
r
right side of the string.
ech * era * tech'
rip("tech")
*'
r]) tech era *2018* '
string after removing the space(s) on thetrip()
parameter char is optional, which can be
a set of characters to be removed from le2018* '
r]) tech era *2018* '
string after removing the space(s) on thetrip()
The parameter char is optional, which can
a set of characters to be removed from rig2018*'
e if the string contains only white spacesstr.isspace())
ntains one character
tech era *2018* '
space()
ech era *2018*'
string in title case le()
2018*'
ech era *2018*'
e if the string is title cased otherwise retutitle()
Tech Era *2018*'
title()
Tech Era *2018*'
tring in which the string elements have be
#'
tor.
in(str5)
#E#r#a# #*#2#0#1#8#*'
oin(iterable)
s a string
be a List, Tuple, String or Dictionary
) wapcase()
e for all letters in string. *2018*'
d,new) earning Python"
n replaces all the occurrences of the old str.replace('n', '@'))
ng.
Pytho@
ep) tition('ing')
n partitions the strings at the first occurreng', ' Python')
nd returns the strings partition in three pa
separator, the separator itself, and the partition('king')
f the separator is not found, returns the st
two empty strings Python', '', '')
maxsplit]]) Tech Era *2018*'
ring into list of substrings using the separ
plit('e')
a *2018*']
nal. It specifies the separator to use when
plit('*')
By default, any whitespace is a separator
optional. It Specifies how many splits to d, '2018', '']
which is "all occurrences"
Tach Era *2018*'
plit('a')
' *2018*']
plit('a',1)
a *2018*']
plit('a',2)
' *2018*']
plit('a',3)
' *2018*']
string, start, end) ike dancing and singing"
a character or a substring in the given str
unt("ing")
w many times the character/substring is pr
string whose count is to be found.
unt("ing",15)
onal) - starting index within the string whe
nal) - ending index within the string where
e, start, end) ike dancing and singing"
st occurrence of the specified value. ex("ing")
quired. The value to search for
onal) - starting index within the string wheex("ing",15)
nal) - ending index within the string where
ex("k",15)
(most recent call last): File "", line 1, in
k",15) ValueError: substring not found
ndex() method is almost the same as the find() method. The only difference is that
urns -1 if the value is not found and the index() method will raise an exception.
PROGRAM1:
WAP to input a string and check whether it is a palindrome or not.
str=input("Enter a string")
l=len(str)
beg=0
end=l-1
while(beg<=end):
if(str[beg]==str[end]):
beg=beg+1
end=end-1
else:
print("It is not a palindrome")
break
else:
print("It is a palindrome")
OUTPUT
Enter a string madam
It is a palindrome
PROGRAM2
Write a script to input a big string ad a small string and display the position of small string in big
string.
import string
str1=input("Enter big string")
str2=input("Enter small string")
k=str1.find(str2)
if k>=0:
print(" substring is present at position", k)
else:
print("substring is not present")
OUTPUT
Enter big string my name is Raman
Enter small string name
substring is present at position 4
