Maximum Length of String in Python

In Python, strings are dynamic and can extend to a very large size, and can be limited only by the system's available memory. In other languages, compared to Python, it does not define a strict upper bound on string length.

Instead, the practical maximum length of a string depends on the platform and memory constraints.

In this article, we will explore how to determine the theoretical maximum string length in Python.

Maximum Theoretical String Length

Python strings are stored as sequences of Unicode characters, and the maximum size of a Python object is typically constrained by the value of sys.maxsize attribute, which reflects the platform's pointer size.

Example

Following is the example which shows how to retrieve the theoretical maximum string length using sys.maxsize attribute -

import sys

print("Maximum theoretical string length:", sys.maxsize)

Here is the output of the above program ?

Maximum theoretical string length: 9223372036854775807

The above value represents the highest possible length a string or any container could theoretically reach on a 64-bit platform.