String Data Type in python
WHAT ARE STRINGS?
In Python, a string is a sequence of characters, enclosed in either single quotes (”) or double quotes (“”). Strings are immutable, which means once a string is created, its contents cannot be changed.
Here is an example of a string:
my_string = "Hello, World!"
You can access individual characters within a string using indexing. The index of the first character in a string is 0, and you can count backwards from the end of the string using negative indices. Here are some examples:
first_char = my_string[0] # returns 'H' last_char = my_string[-1] # returns '!'
You can also slice a string to extract a substring. Slicing is done using the colon (:) operator. The syntax for slicing is [start_index:end_index]
, where start_index
is the index of the first character you want to include in the substring, and end_index
is the index of the first character you want to exclude from the substring. If you omit start_index
, Python assumes you want to start at the beginning of the string, and if you omit end_index
, Python assumes you want to go to the end of the string. Here are some examples:
substring = my_string[0:5] # returns 'Hello' substring2 = my_string[7:] # returns 'World!'
You can also concatenate two or more strings using the +
operator. Here is an example:
greeting = "Hello" name = "Alice" full_greeting = greeting + ", " + name + "!"
This would set full_greeting
to "Hello, Alice!"
.
here are some more operations and methods you can perform on strings in Python:
- len(string): returns the length of the string
my_string = "Hello, World!" length = len(my_string) # returns 13
string.upper(): returns a new string with all characters in uppercase
my_string = "Hello, World!" uppercase_string = my_string.upper() # returns "HELLO, WORLD!"
string.lower(): returns a new string with all characters in lowercase
my_string = "Hello, World!" lowercase_string = my_string.lower() # returns "hello, world!"
string.strip(): returns a new string with leading and trailing whitespace removed
my_string = " Hello, World! " stripped_string = my_string.strip() # returns "Hello, World!"
string.replace(old, new): returns a new string with all occurrences of old
replaced by new
my_string = "Hello, World!" new_string = my_string.replace("World", "Python") # returns "Hello, Python!"
string.split(separator): returns a list of substrings, split by the specified separator (default is whitespace)
my_string = "Hello, World!" words = my_string.split(",") # returns ["Hello", " World!"]
string.join(iterable): returns a new string by concatenating the elements of an iterable, separated by the string
words = ["Hello", "World", "!"] my_string = ", ".join(words) # returns "Hello, World, !"
string.format(): allows you to insert values into a string using placeholders
name = "Alice" age = 30 greeting = "Hello, my name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age)
This would set greeting
to "Hello, my name is Alice and I am 30 years old."
. You can also use numbered placeholders to specify the order of the values in the format method, or use named placeholders to give them descriptive names.
Here are some additional operations and methods you can use with strings in Python:
- string.startswith(prefix): returns
True
if the string starts with the specified prefix,False
otherwise.
my_string = "Hello, World!" starts_with_hello = my_string.startswith("Hello") # returns True
string.endswith(suffix): returns True
if the string ends with the specified suffix, False
otherwise.
my_string = "Hello, World!" ends_with_exclamation = my_string.endswith("!") # returns True
string.find(substring): returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring in the string, or -1 if the substring is not found.
my_string = "Hello, World!" index_of_world = my_string.find("World") # returns 7
string.count(substring): returns the number of times the specified substring appears in the string.
my_string = "Hello, World!" number_of_l = my_string.count("l") # returns 3
string.isalpha(): returns True
if all characters in the string are alphabetic, False
otherwise.
my_string = "Hello, World!" is_alpha = my_string.isalpha() # returns False (because of the comma and the space)
string.isdigit(): returns True
if all characters in the string are digits, False
otherwise.
my_string = "12345" is_digit = my_string.isdigit() # returns True
string.islower(): returns True
if all alphabetic characters in the string are lowercase, False
otherwise.
my_string = "hello, world!" is_lower = my_string.islower() # returns True
string.isupper(): returns True
if all alphabetic characters in the string are uppercase, False
otherwise.
my_string = "HELLO, WORLD!" is_upper = my_string.isupper() # returns True
string.encode(): returns a bytes object encoding the string using the specified encoding (default is UTF-8)
my_string = "Hello, World!" encoded_bytes = my_string.encode() # returns b'Hello, World!'
string.center(width): returns a new string centered within a string of a specified width, with any extra space filled by a specified character (default is whitespace).
my_string = "Hello, World!" centered_string = my_string.center(20, "*") # returns "***Hello, World!***"
string.ljust(width): returns a new string left-justified within a string of a specified width, with any extra space filled by a specified character (default is whitespace).
my_string = "Hello, World!" left_justified_string = my_string.ljust(20, "*") # returns "Hello, World!*******"
string.rjust(width): returns a new string right-justified within a string of a specified width, with any extra space filled by a specified character (default is whitespace).
my_string = "Hello, World!" right_justified_string = my_string.rjust(20, "*") # returns "*******Hello, World!"
string.swapcase(): returns a new string with uppercase characters converted to lowercase and vice versa.
my_string = "Hello, World!" swapped_case_string = my_string.swapcase() # returns "hELLO, wORLD!"
string.title(): returns a new string with the first letter of each word capitalized.
my_string = "hello, world!" title_string = my_string.title() # returns "Hello, World!"
string.capitalize(): returns a new string with the first character capitalized and the rest in lowercase.
my_string = "hello, world!" capitalized_string = my_string.capitalize() # returns "Hello, world!"