PYTHON STRINGS
MODULE - 26
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Contents of Module 26
Definition of a String
Declaring a string in python
Creating and initializing strings
Strings are immutable
Traversing a string
Strings basic operators
String Membership Operators
String Slices
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Strings – Definition and Declaring of a string
In python, consecutive sequence of characters is known as a string. An
individual character in a string is accessed using a subscript (index). The
subscript should always be an integer (positive or negative). In python,
strings indices begins with 0 in forward direction and -1 in backward
direction.
Declaring a string in python
>>>str=“Computer Science”
>>>print(str)
Computer Science
To access the fourth character of the string
>>>print( str[3])
P
To access the third last character of the string
>>>print( str[-3])
n
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Strings - Creating and initializing strings
Creating and initializing strings
A literal/constant value to a string can be assigned using a
single quotes, double quotes or triple quotes.
Enclosing the string in single quotes
Example
>>>print (‘A friend in need is a friend indeed’)
A friend in need is a friend indeed
Enclosing the string in double quotes
Example
>>>print(“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”)
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
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Strings - Creating and initializing strings
Enclosing the string in triple quotes
Example
>>>life=”””\” Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.\”
---- Mahatma Gandhi “””
>>> print( life)
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
Learn as if you were to live forever.”
---- Mahatma Gandhi
Triple quotes are used when the text is multiline. In the above
example, backslash (\) is used as an escape sequence. An
escape sequences is nothing but a special character that has a
specific function. As shown above, backslash (\) is used to
escape the double quote.
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Strings - Strings are immutable
Strings are immutable
Strings are immutable means that the contents of the string
cannot be changed after it is created. Let us understand the
concept of immutability with help of an example.
Example
>>>str='honesty'
>>>str[2]='p'
TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment
Python does not allowthe programmer to change a character in
a string. As shown in the above example, str has the value
“honesty‟. An attempt to replace “n‟ in the string by ‟p‟
displays a TypeError.
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Strings -Traversing a string
Traversing a string
Traversing a string means accessing all the elements of the string one after
the other by using the subscript. A string can be traversed using:
for loop or while loop.
String traversal using for loop
a='Welcome'
for i in a:
print(i,'-',end=‘ ')
output is W - e - l - c - o - m - e –
A is assigned a string literal ‟Welcome‟. On execution of the for loop, the
characters in the string are printed till the end of the string.
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String -Traversing a string
String traversal using while loop
a='Welcome'
i=0
while i<len(a):
print(a[i],end="")
i=i+1
output is Welcome
a is assigned a string literal “Welcome‟ i is assigned value 0. The len() function
calculates the length of the string. On entering the while loop, the interpreter
checks the condition. If the condition is true, it enters the loop. The first
character in the string is displayed. The value i is incremented by 1. The loop
continues till value i is less than len-1. The loop finishes as soon as the value
Of i becomes equal to len-1.
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Strings - Strings basic operators
+ (Concatenation) operator: The + operator joins the text on both sides of
The Operator. Consider the following example.
>>> “Tea‟+‟Pot‟
“TeaPot‟
To give a white space between the two words, insert a space before the
closing single quote of the first literal.
* (Replication ) operator:
The * operator replicates the string the number of times the value given on
the other side. Consider the following example
>>>3*‟go ‟
“gogogo‟
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Strings -String Membership Operators
in operator:
The operator displays true if the string contains the given character or the
sequence of characters otherwise it returns false. Consider the following
example
>>>A=‟Save Earth‟
>>> “S‟ in A
True
Not in operator:
The operator displays true if the string does not contain the given character
or the sequence of characters otherwise it returns false. Consider the
following example
>>>‟ve “ not in “Save Earth‟
False
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Strings - String Slices
The term ‘string slice’ refers to a part of the string, where strings
are sliced using a range of indices. For a string say name[n : m]
where n and m are integers and legal indices. Python will return
a slice of the string by returning the characters falling between
indices n and m starting at n,n+1,n+2... till m-1.
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Strings - String Slices
Example
>>>word=‟amazing‟
>>> print(word[0:3])
ama
The print statement prints the substring starting from subscript 0 and ending
at subscript 2 .
Example
>>>print(word[3:])
zing
Omitting the second index, directs the python interpreter to extract the
substring till the end of the string
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Strings - String Slices
Example
>>>print(word[:3])
ama
Omitting the first index, directs the python interpreter to extract the
substring before the second index starting from the beginning.
Example
>>>print(word[:])
amazing
Omitting both the indices, directs the python interpreter to extract the entire
string starting from 0 till the last index
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Strings - String Slices
Example
>>>print( word[-2:])
ng
For negative indices the python interpreter counts from the right side (also
shown above). So the last two letters are printed.
Example
>>>print (word[:-2])
amazi
Omitting the first index, directs the python interpreter to start extracting the
substring from the beginning. Since the negative index indicates slicing from
the end of the string. So the entire string except the last two letters is printed.
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THANK YOU
Rani Sasty
PGT(ss)
AECS-4,Mumbai
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