Strings in Python

Introduction
Strings are one of the most fundamental data types in Python. A string is a
sequence of characters enclosed within either single quotes ( ' ), double quotes
( " ), or triple quotes ( ''' or “““).

Creating Strings
You can create strings in Python using different types of quotes:

# Single-quoted string
a = 'Hello, Python!'

# Double-quoted string
b = "Hello, World!"

# Triple-quoted string (useful for multi-line strings)

c = '''This is
a multi-line
string.'''

String Indexing
Each character in a string has an index:

text = "Python"
print(text[0]) # Output: P
print(text[1]) # Output: y
print(text[-1]) # Output: n (last character)
String Slicing
You can extract parts of a string using slicing:

text = "Hello, Python!"

print(text[0:5]) # Output: Hello
print(text[:5]) # Output: Hello
print(text[7:]) # Output: Python!
print(text[::2]) # Output: Hlo Pto!

String Methods
Python provides several built-in methods to manipulate strings:

text = " hello world "

print(text.upper()) # Output: " HELLO WORLD "
print(text.lower()) # Output: " hello world "
print(text.strip()) # Output: "hello world"
print(text.replace("world", "Python")) # Output: " hello Python "
print(text.split()) # Output: ['hello', 'world']

String Formatting
Python offers multiple ways to format strings:

name = "John"
age = 25

# Using format()
print("My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age))

# Using f-strings (Python 3.6+)

print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")

Multiline Strings
Triple quotes allow you to create multi-line strings:
 message = '''
Hello,
This is a multi-line string example.
Goodbye!
'''
print(message)

Summary
• Strings are sequences of characters.
• Use single, double, or triple quotes to define strings.
• Indexing and slicing allow accessing parts of a string.
• String methods help modify and manipulate strings.
• f-strings provide an efficient way to format strings.

String Slicing and Indexing

Introduction
In Python, strings are sequences of characters, and each character has an index.
You can access individual characters using indexing and extract substrings using
slicing.

String Indexing
Each character in a string has a unique index, starting from 0 for the first character
and -1 for the last character.

text = "Python"
print(text[0]) # Output: P
print(text[1]) # Output: y
print(text[-1]) # Output: n (last character)
print(text[-2]) # Output: o
String Slicing
Slicing allows you to extract a portion of a string using the syntax
string[start:stop:step] .

text = "Hello, Python!"

print(text[0:5]) # Output: Hello
print(text[:5]) # Output: Hello (same as text[0:5])
print(text[7:]) # Output: Python! (from index 7 to end)
print(text[::2]) # Output: Hlo Pto!
print(text[-6:-1]) # Output: ython (negative indexing)

Step Parameter

The step parameter defines the interval of slicing.

text = "Python Programming"

print(text[::2]) # Output: Pto rgamn
print(text[::-1]) # Output: gnimmargorP nohtyP (reverses string)

Practical Uses of Slicing

String slicing is useful in many scenarios: - Extracting substrings - Reversing strings
- Removing characters - Manipulating text efficiently

text = "Welcome to Python!"

print(text[:7]) # Output: Welcome
print(text[-7:]) # Output: Python!
print(text[3:-3]) # Output: come to Pyt

Summary
• Indexing allows accessing individual characters.
• Positive indexing starts from 0, negative indexing starts from -1.
• Slicing helps extract portions of a string.
• The step parameter defines the interval for selection.
 • Using [::-1] reverses a string.

String Methods and Functions

Introduction
Python provides a variety of built-in string methods and functions to manipulate
and process strings efficiently.

Common String Methods

Changing Case

text = "hello world"

print(text.upper()) # Output: "HELLO WORLD"
print(text.lower()) # Output: "hello world"
print(text.title()) # Output: "Hello World"
print(text.capitalize()) # Output: "Hello world"

Removing Whitespace

text = " hello world "

print(text.strip()) # Output: "hello world"
print(text.lstrip()) # Output: "hello world "
print(text.rstrip()) # Output: " hello world"

Finding and Replacing

text = "Python is fun"

print(text.find("is")) # Output: 7
print(text.replace("fun", "awesome")) # Output: "Python is awesome"

Splitting and Joining

text = "apple,banana,orange"
fruits = text.split(",")
print(fruits) # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange']
 new_text = " - ".join(fruits)
print(new_text) # Output: "apple - banana - orange"

Checking String Properties

text = "Python123"
print(text.isalpha()) # Output: False
print(text.isdigit()) # Output: False
print(text.isalnum()) # Output: True
print(text.isspace()) # Output: False

Useful Built-in String Functions

len() - Get Length of a String

text = "Hello, Python!"

print(len(text)) # Output: 14

ord() and chr() - Character Encoding

print(ord('A')) # Output: 65
print(chr(65)) # Output: 'A'

format() and f-strings

name = "Alice"
age = 30
print("My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age))
print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")

Summary

• Python provides various string methods for modification and analysis.

 • Case conversion, trimming, finding, replacing, splitting, and joining are
commonly used.
• Functions like len() , ord() , and chr() are useful for working with string
properties.

String Formatting and f-Strings

Introduction
String formatting is a powerful feature in Python that allows you to insert variables
and expressions into strings in a structured way. Python provides multiple ways to
format strings, including the older .format() method and the modern
f-strings .

Using .format() Method

The .format() method allows inserting values into placeholders {} :

name = "Alice"
age = 30
print("My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age))

You can also specify positional and keyword arguments:

print("{1} is learning {0}".format("Python", "Alice")) # Output: Alice is le

print("{name} is {age} years old".format(name="Bob", age=25))

f-Strings (Formatted String Literals)

Introduced in Python 3.6, f-strings are the most concise and readable way to
format strings:

name = "Alice"
age = 30
print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")
Using Expressions in f-Strings

You can perform calculations directly inside f-strings:

x = 10
y = 5
print(f"The sum of {x} and {y} is {x + y}")

Formatting Numbers

pi = 3.14159265
print(f"Pi rounded to 2 decimal places: {pi:.2f}")

Padding and Alignment

text = "Python"
print(f"{text:>10}") # Right align
print(f"{text:<10}") # Left align
print(f"{text:^10}") # Center align

Important Notes
• Escape Sequences: Use \n , \t , \' , \" , and \\ to handle special
characters in strings.
• Raw Strings: Use r"string" to prevent escape sequence interpretation.
• String Encoding & Decoding: Use .encode() and .decode() to work
with different text encodings.
• String Immutability: Strings in Python are immutable, meaning they
cannot be changed after creation.
• Performance Considerations: Using ''.join(list_of_strings) is more
efficient than concatenation in loops.

Summary
• .format() allows inserting values into placeholders.
• f-strings provide an intuitive and readable way to format strings.
• f-strings support expressions, calculations, and formatting options.