Python Strings

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String Literals
String literals in python are surrounded by either single quotation marks, or
double quotation marks.

'hello' is the same as "hello".

You can display a string literal with the print() function:

Example
print("Hello")
print('Hello')
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Assign String to a Variable

Assigning a string to a variable is done with the variable name followed by an
equal sign and the string:

Example
a = "Hello"
print(a)
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Multiline Strings
You can assign a multiline string to a variable by using three quotes:

Example
You can use three double quotes:

a = """Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua."""
print(a)
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Or three single quotes:

Example
a = '''Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.'''
print(a)
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Note: in the result, the line breaks are inserted at the same position as in the
code.

Strings are Arrays

Like many other popular programming languages, strings in Python are arrays
of bytes representing unicode characters.

However, Python does not have a character data type, a single character is
simply a string with a length of 1.

Square brackets can be used to access elements of the string.

Example
Get the character at position 1 (remember that the first character has the
position 0):

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a[1])
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Slicing
You can return a range of characters by using the slice syntax.

Specify the start index and the end index, separated by a colon, to return a part
of the string.

Example
Get the characters from position 2 to position 5 (not included):

b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[2:5])
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Negative Indexing
Use negative indexes to start the slice from the end of the string:
Example
Get the characters from position 5 to position 1, starting the count from the end
of the string:

b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[-5:-2])
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String Length
To get the length of a string, use the len() function.

Example
The len() function returns the length of a string:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(len(a))
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String Methods
Python has a set of built-in methods that you can use on strings.

Example
The strip() method removes any whitespace from the beginning or the end:

a = " Hello, World! "

print(a.strip()) # returns "Hello, World!"
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Example
The lower() method returns the string in lower case:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.lower())
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Example
The upper() method returns the string in upper case:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.upper())
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Example
The replace() method replaces a string with another string:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.replace("H", "J"))
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Example
The split() method splits the string into substrings if it finds instances of the
separator:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.split(",")) # returns ['Hello', ' World!']
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Learn more about String Methods with our String Methods Reference

Check String
To check if a certain phrase or character is present in a string, we can use the
keywords in or not in.

Example
Check if the phrase "ain" is present in the following text:

txt = "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain"

x = "ain" in txt
print(x)
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Example
Check if the phrase "ain" is NOT present in the following text:

txt = "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain"

x = "ain" not in txt
print(x) 
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String Concatenation
To concatenate, or combine, two strings you can use the + operator.

Example
Merge variable a with variable b into variable c:

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + b
print(c)
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Example
To add a space between them, add a " ":

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + " " + b
print(c)
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String Format
As we learned in the Python Variables chapter, we cannot combine strings and
numbers like this:

Example
age = 36
txt = "My name is John, I am " + age
print(txt)
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But we can combine strings and numbers by using the format() method!

The format() method takes the passed arguments, formats them, and places

them in the string where the placeholders {} are:

Example
Use the format() method to insert numbers into strings:

age = 36
txt = "My name is John, and I am {}"
print(txt.format(age))
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The format() method takes unlimited number of arguments, and are placed into
the respective placeholders:

Example
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = "I want {} pieces of item {} for {} dollars."
print(myorder.format(quantity, itemno, price))
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You can use index numbers {0} to be sure the arguments are placed in the
correct placeholders:

Example
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = "I want to pay {2} dollars for {0} pieces of item {1}."
print(myorder.format(quantity, itemno, price))
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Escape Character
To insert characters that are illegal in a string, use an escape character.

An escape character is a backslash \ followed by the character you want to

insert.

An example of an illegal character is a double quote inside a string that is

surrounded by double quotes:

Example
You will get an error if you use double quotes inside a string that is surrounded
by double quotes:
txt = "We are the so-called "Vikings" from the north."
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To fix this problem, use the escape character \":

Example
The escape character allows you to use double quotes when you normally would
not be allowed:

txt = "We are the so-called \"Vikings\" from the north."

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Other escape characters used in Python:

Code Result

\' Single Quote

\\ Backslash

\n New Line

\r Carriage Return

\t Tab

\b Backspace
 \f Form Feed

\ooo Octal value

\xhh Hex value

String Methods
Python has a set of built-in methods that you can use on strings.

Method Description

capitalize() Converts the first character to upper case

casefold() Converts string into lower case

center() Returns a centered string

count() Returns the number of times a specified value occurs in a string

encode() Returns an encoded version of the string

endswith() Returns true if the string ends with the specified value

expandtabs() Sets the tab size of the string

find() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of wh

format() Formats specified values in a string

format_map() Formats specified values in a string

index() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of wh

isalnum() Returns True if all characters in the string are alphanumeric

isalpha() Returns True if all characters in the string are in the alphabet

isdecimal() Returns True if all characters in the string are decimals

isdigit() Returns True if all characters in the string are digits

isidentifier() Returns True if the string is an identifier

islower() Returns True if all characters in the string are lower case

isnumeric() Returns True if all characters in the string are numeric

isprintable() Returns True if all characters in the string are printable

isspace() Returns True if all characters in the string are whitespaces

istitle() Returns True if the string follows the rules of a title

isupper() Returns True if all characters in the string are upper case

join() Joins the elements of an iterable to the end of the string

ljust() Returns a left justified version of the string

lower() Converts a string into lower case

lstrip() Returns a left trim version of the string

maketrans() Returns a translation table to be used in translations

partition() Returns a tuple where the string is parted into three parts

replace() Returns a string where a specified value is replaced with a specified va

rfind() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position o

rindex() Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position o

rjust() Returns a right justified version of the string

rpartition() Returns a tuple where the string is parted into three parts

rsplit() Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list

rstrip() Returns a right trim version of the string

split() Splits the string at the specified separator, and returns a list

splitlines() Splits the string at line breaks and returns a list

startswith() Returns true if the string starts with the specified value
strip() Returns a trimmed version of the string

swapcase() Swaps cases, lower case becomes upper case and vice versa

title() Converts the first character of each word to upper case

translate() Returns a translated string

upper() Converts a string into upper case

zfill() Fills the string with a specified number of 0 values at the beginning