Python String Methods - What should you know?

A string is the sequence of multiple characters, letters, numbers, or symbols that can either be a constant or variable. Strings are made up of Unicode and they are immutable. It means that strings cannot be changed once they are defined. String stores a common type of data that we use in our daily life and data types in a string are crucial building blocks of programming. In this tutorial for Python string methods, we would first discuss the string basics then string methods to offer a large degree of flexibility and customization to programming.

How to create or print a string in Python?

In Python, strings either exist in single quotes (‘) or double quotes (“), so to create a string enclose the string in one or another format.

‘it is a simple string in Python enclosed in single quotes’ “It is a simple string in Python enclosed in double quotes”

It is up to you either you choose single quotes or double quotes but keep it consistent within a program. Further, it is easy to print a string by using a simple print () function. Print (“Please print my first string.”)

Output: Please print my first string.

With the basic understanding of string, let us learn how to manipulate strings in Python.

String Concatenation

Concatenation means combining two strings together end to end to create a new string. String concatenation is common and “+” operator is used to concatenate two strings together. Keep in mind that “+” is a joining operator here not the addition operator. Let us combine two strings “Shipra” and “Jain” here using “+” operator through a print () statement.

For example- Print (“Shipra” + “Jain”)

Output: Shipra Jain 

This output does not seem convincing and to create whitespace here, you should rewrite the above string as given below. Print (“Shipra ” + “Jain”)

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Output: Shipra Jain

Keep in mind that data types must be the same for both strings that you want to concatenate otherwise it will show an error. For example, when you write –

Print (“Shipra” + 198) You will receive the following error –

Output

TypeErrpr:can’t convert ‘int’ object to str implicitly

However, to execute this program, you should write 198 into double quotes then it will be treated as the string instead of an integer. For example –

Print (“Shipra” + “198”)

The final output here will be –

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Output: Shipra198

String Replication

There are cases when you want to automate tasks, and one of the best ways to achieve this goal is string replication where a particular string is repeated several times as per the requirement. String replication can be achieved with “*” operator, similar to “+” operator for concatenation. Let us print out “JanBask” five times with whitespace between without writing it five times again. For example –

Print (“JanBask ” * 5)

Output: JanBask JanBask JanBask JanBask JanBask

String Storage to Variables

Variables are symbols that are used to store data within a program. They can also be considered as the empty box that you fill with data or value. Declaring strings as a variable can make it easy for you to work with string while working with Python programs. To store a string within a variable, you simply need to assign a variable to the string. Let us understand the concept with an example given below.

My_str = “Sammy likes declaring strings.”

In this example, we have set a my_str variable to this particular string and you can print this variable as below.

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Print(my_str)

And the output for the program is –

Output: Sammy likes declaring strings.

In this way, it is easy to manipulate strings by using proper operators and functions in Python. For your reference, let us go in little more depth and learn the Python string methods.

Python String Methods

Python has a few string methods that string objects may call to perform a frequency occurrence task. For example, to capitalize the first letter of a string, you should use the capitalize () method. In this section, we will discuss all string methods that are used within Python programs and perform the specific task. Let us discuss each of the methods one by one below.

Python String Methods	Description
Capitalize ()	It returns the copy of the string with its first letter capitalized.
Center ()	It is padding a string based on its width.
Count ()	It returns the number of occurrences for the substring.
Endswith ()	It checks either string ends with the particular suffix or not.
Expandtabs ()	It replaces tab characters with spaces.
Encode ()	It returns encoded version of the given string.
Find ()	It returns the first occurrence of the substring.
Format ()	It formats the string to an attractive output.
Index ()	It returns the index of the substring.
Isalnum()	It checks the string for alphanumeric characters.
Isalpha()	It checks if all characters are alphabets or not.
Isdecimal()	It checks the string for decimal characters.
Isdigit()	It checks the string for digit characters.
Isidentifier()	It checks the string for valid identifiers.
Islower()	It checks the string alphabets for lower cases.
Isupper()	It checks the string alphabets for upper cases.
Isnumeric()	It checks the string for numeric characters.
Isprintable()	It checks the string for printable characters.
Isspace()	It checks the string for whitespace characters.
Istitle()	It checks the string for title case.
Join()	It returns the concatenated string by joining two strings together end to end.
Ljust()	It returns the left-justified string of a given width.
Rjust()	It returns the right-justified string of a given width.
Lower()	It turns the complete string into lower cases.
Upper()	It turns the complete string into upper cases.
Swapcase()	It swaps lower case to upper case character and the vice versa.
Lstrip()	It removes the leading characters from the string.
Rstrip()	It removes the trailing characters from the string.
Strip()	If you want to remove both characters either leading or trailing then you can use strip () function in that case.
Partition ()	To return a tuple, you should use the partition () function.
Maketrans()	It returns the translation table when required.
Translate()	It returns the mapped character string.
Replace()	It replaces the substring inside.
Rfind(), rindex ()	It returns the highest index of the substring.
Split()	It splits the string from the left.
Rsplit()	It splits the string from the right.
Splitlines()	It splits the string at line boundaries.
Startswith()	It checks either string starts with a particular string.
Zfill()	It returns the string padded with zeroes.
Format_map()	It formats the string with the help of a dictionary.
Any()	It checks either Iterables element is true or not.
Ascii()	It returns the ASCII code of the string.
Bool()	It converts a string value to the Boolean.
Compile()	It returns a Python code object.
Complex()	To create a complex string, you can use this function.
Input()	It reads and returns the complete line of a string.
Len()	It returns the length of an object.
Max()	It returns the largest element of the string.
Min()	It returns the smallest element of the string.

Here, we have listed the top string methods that should be frequently used. There are more similar methods that can be used based on convenience. These methods help you to manipulate programs within Python. To know more on strings and similar topics, you may join the Python certification course at JanBask training and start practicing concepts practically.

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