Python Strings: Methods, Formatting, and Slicing (Detailed Explanation)
1. Strings in Python
A string in Python is a sequence of characters enclosed within single ('), double
(") or triple (''' or """) quotes.
python
string1 = 'Hello'
string2 = "World"
string3 = '''This is a multi-line string.'''
Strings are immutable, meaning they cannot be changed once created.
2. String Methods
Python provides a variety of built-in methods to manipulate strings.
A. Case Conversion Methods
Method Description
Example
.upper() Converts all characters to uppercase.
"hello".upper() → 'HELLO'
.lower() Converts all characters to lowercase.
"HELLO".lower() → 'hello'
.title() Capitalizes the first letter of every word. "hello
world".title() → 'Hello World'
.capitalize() Capitalizes only the first letter of the string. "hello
world".capitalize() → 'Hello world'
.swapcase() Swaps uppercase letters to lowercase and vice versa.
"Hello".swapcase() → 'hELLO'
B. Searching and Checking Methods
Method Description
Example
.find(sub) Returns the index of the first occurrence of sub or -1 if not found.
"hello".find('e') → 1
.index(sub) Same as .find(), but raises an error if not found.
"hello".index('e') → 1
.startswith(sub) Returns True if the string starts with sub, else False.
"hello".startswith('he') → True
.endswith(sub) Returns True if the string ends with sub, else False.
"hello".endswith('lo') → True
.count(sub) Counts occurrences of sub in the string.
"hello hello".count('l') → 4
C. Modifying and Replacing Methods
Method Description
Example
.replace(old, new) Replaces all occurrences of old with new.
"hello".replace('l', 'x') → 'hexxo'
.strip() Removes whitespace from both ends. " hello
".strip() → 'hello'
.lstrip() Removes whitespace from the left side. " hello
".lstrip() → 'hello '
.rstrip() Removes whitespace from the right side. " hello
".rstrip() → ' hello'
D. Splitting and Joining Methods
Method Description
Example
.split(sep) Splits the string into a list using sep. "hello
world".split() → ['hello', 'world']
.join(iterable) Joins elements of an iterable into a string.
"-".join(['hello', 'world']) → 'hello-world'
E. Character Type Checking Methods
Method Description
Example
.isalnum() Returns True if all characters are alphanumeric.
"hello123".isalnum() → True
.isalpha() Returns True if all characters are letters.
"hello".isalpha() → True
.isdigit() Returns True if all characters are digits.
"123".isdigit() → True
.isspace() Returns True if all characters are spaces. "
".isspace() → True
3. String Formatting
Python provides several ways to format strings.
A. Using f-strings (Python 3.6+)
The most modern and recommended way to format strings.
name = "Alice"
age = 25
print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")
Output:
My name is Alice and I am 25 years old.
B. Using .format() Method
print("My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age))
You can also use index-based or keyword-based formatting:
print("My name is {1} and I am {0} years old.".format(age, name))
print("My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.".format(name="Bob", age=30))
C. Using % Formatting (Old Method)
print("My name is %s and I am %d years old." % (name, age))
4. String Slicing
Slicing allows extracting specific portions of a string. The syntax is:
string[start:end:step]
start → Index where slicing starts (inclusive).
end → Index where slicing stops (exclusive).
step → Number of steps to take.
A. Basic Slicing
text = "Python"
print(text[0:4]) # 'Pyth'
print(text[:3]) # 'Pyt' (start defaults to 0)
print(text[2:]) # 'thon' (end defaults to last index)
B. Using Negative Indices
print(text[-1]) # 'n' (last character)
print(text[-3:]) # 'hon' (last 3 characters)
print(text[:-2]) # 'Pyth' (all except last 2 characters)
C. Using Step
print(text[::2]) # 'Pto' (every second character)
print(text[::-1]) # 'nohtyP' (reverse the string)
5. Examples Combining Methods, Formatting, and Slicing
quote = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
words = quote.split() # Splitting into words
filtered_words = [word.capitalize() for word in words] # Capitalizing each word
formatted_string = " | ".join(filtered_words) # Joining with a separator
print(formatted_string)
Output:
mathematica
The | Quick | Brown | Fox | Jumps | Over | The | Lazy | Dog
6. Summary
Concept Example
String Methods .upper(), .lower(), .replace(), .split(), .join()
String Formatting f"Hello {name}", "{}".format(value), "%s" % value
String Slicing text[start:end:step], text[::-1] for reversing
