Strings

Chapter 6

Python for Informatics: Exploring Information

www.pythonlearn.com
Unless otherwise noted, the content of this course material is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Copyright 2010- Charles Severance

 String Data >>> str1 = "Hello”
>>> str2 = 'there'
• A string isType
a sequence of >>> bob = str1 + str2
characters >>> print bob
• A string literal uses quotes
Hellothere
>>> str3 = '123'
'Hello' or “Hello” >>> str3 = str3 + 1
• For strings, + means
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in
“concatenate”
<module>TypeError: cannot
• When a string contains concatenate 'str' and 'int' objects
numbers, it is still a string >>> x = int(str3) + 1
>>> print x
• We can convert numbers in a 124
string into a number using int() >>>
 Reading and >>> name = raw_input('Enter:')
Enter:Chuck
Converting
• We prefer to read data in >>> print name
using strings and then Chuck
parse and convert the >>> apple = raw_input('Enter:')
data as we need Enter:100
>>> x = apple – 10
• This gives us more Traceback (most recent call last):
control over error File "<stdin>", line 1, in
situations and/or bad <module>TypeError: unsupported
user input operand type(s) for -: 'str' and 'int'
>>> x = int(apple) – 10
• Raw input numbers must >>> print x
be converted from 90
strings
 Looking Inside Strings
• We can get at any single
b a n a n a
character in a string using an
index specified in square 0 1 2 3 4 5
brackets >>> fruit = 'banana'
>>> letter = fruit[1]
• The index value must be an >>> print letter
integer and starts at zero a
• The index value can be an
>>> n = 3
>>> w = fruit[n - 1]
expression that is computed
>>> print w
n
 A Character Too Far

• You will get a python error if >>> zot = 'abc'

>>> print zot[5]
you attempt to index beyond
the end of a string. Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<stdin>", line 1, in
• So be careful when <module>IndexError: string index
constructing index values and out of range
slices >>>
 Strings Have Length

b a n a n a
0 1 2 3 4 5
• There is a built-in function len
that gives us the length of a string >>> fruit = 'banana'
>>> print len(fruit)
6
 Len Function
A function is some
>>> fruit = 'banana'
stored code that we
>>> x = len(fruit)
use. A function takes
>>> print x
some input and
6
produces an output.

'banana' len() 6
(a string) (a number)
function

Guido wrote this code

 Len Function
A function is some
>>> fruit = 'banana'
stored code that we
>>> x = len(fruit)
use. A function takes
>>> print x
some input and
6
produces an output.

def len(inp):
blah
'banana' blah 6
for x in y: (a number)
(a string) blah
blah
 Looping Through Strings

• Using a while statement fruit = 'banana' 0b

and an iteration variable, index = 0 1a
and the len function, we can while index < len(fruit) : 2n
construct a loop to look at letter = fruit[index] 3a
each of the letters in a print index, letter 4n
string individually index = index + 1 5a
 Looping Through Strings

• A definite loop using a for b

statement is much more a
elegant fruit = 'banana' n
for letter in fruit :
• The iteration variable is print letter
a
n
completely taken care of by a
the for loop
 Looping Through Strings
fruit = 'banana'
• A definite loop using a for for letter in fruit : b
statement is much more print letter a
elegant n
• The iteration variable is index = 0 a
n
completely taken care of by while index < len(fruit) :
a
the for loop letter = fruit[index]
print letter
index = index + 1
 Looping and Counting

• This is a simple loop that word = 'banana'

loops through each letter in count = 0
a string and counts the for letter in word :
number of times the loop if letter == 'a' :
encounters the 'a' character. count = count + 1
print count
 Looking deeper into in
• The iteration variable
“iterates” though the
sequence (ordered set) Six-character string
Iteration variable
• The block (body) of code
is executed once for
each value in the for letter in 'banana' :
sequence print letter
• The iteration variable
moves through all of the
values in the sequence
Yes b a n a n a
Done? Advance letter

print letter

for letter in 'banana' :

print letter

The iteration variable “iterates” though the string and the

block (body) of code is executed once for each value in the
sequence
 M o n t y P y t h o n
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
• We can also look at any
continuous section of a >>> s = 'Monty Python'
string using a colon >>> print s[0:4]
operator Mont
>>> print s[6:7]
• The second number is one P
beyond the end of the slice >>> print s[6:20]
- “up to but not including” Python

• If the second number is

beyond the end of the
string, it stops at the end Slicing Strings
 M o n t y P y t h o n
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

>>> s = 'Monty Python'

>>> print s[:2]
• If we leave off the first Mo
>>> print s[8:]
number or the last number
of the slice, it is assumed to Thon
be the beginning or end of >>> print s[:]
the string respectively Monty Python

Slicing Strings
 String Concatenation
>>> a = 'Hello'
>>> b = a + 'There'
>>> print b
• When the + operator is HelloThere
applied to strings, it >>> c = a + ' ' + 'There'
means "concatenation" >>> print c
Hello There
>>>
 Using in as an Operator
• The in keyword can also >>> fruit = 'banana’
>>> 'n' in fruit
be used to check to see if
True
one string is "in" another >>> 'm' in fruit
string False
>>> 'nan' in fruit
• The in expression is a True
logical expression and >>> if 'a' in fruit :
... print 'Found it!’
returns True or False and
...
can be used in an if Found it!
statement >>>
 String Comparison
if word == 'banana':
print 'All right, bananas.'

if word < 'banana':

print 'Your word,' + word + ', comes before banana.’
elif word > 'banana':
print 'Your word,' + word + ', comes after banana.’
else:
print 'All right, bananas.'
 String Library
• Python has a number of string
functions which are in the string
library >>> greet = 'Hello Bob'>>> zap
= greet.lower()>>> print
• These functions are already built zaphello bob
into every string - we invoke them >>> print greet
by appending the function to the Hello Bob>>> print 'Hi
string variable There'.lower()
• These functions do not modify the
hi there
>>>
original string, instead they return
a new string that has been altered
>>> stuff = 'Hello world’
>>> type(stuff)<type 'str'>
>>> dir(stuff)
['capitalize', 'center', 'count', 'decode', 'encode', 'endswith',
'expandtabs', 'find', 'format', 'index', 'isalnum', 'isalpha', 'isdigit',
'islower', 'isspace', 'istitle', 'isupper', 'join', 'ljust', 'lower', 'lstrip',
'partition', 'replace', 'rfind', 'rindex', 'rjust', 'rpartition', 'rsplit',
'rstrip', 'split', 'splitlines', 'startswith', 'strip', 'swapcase', 'title',
'translate', 'upper', 'zfill']

http://docs.python.org/lib/string-methods.html
http://docs.python.org/lib/string-methods.html
 String Library

str.capitalize() str.replace(old, new[, count])

str.center(width[, fillchar]) str.lower()
str.endswith(suffix[, start[, end]]) str.rstrip([chars])
str.find(sub[, start[, end]]) str.strip([chars])
str.lstrip([chars]) str.upper()

http://docs.python.org/lib/string-methods.html
 Searching a
String
• We use the find() function
to search for a substring b a n a n a
within another string 0 1 2 3 4 5
• find() finds the first >>> fruit = 'banana'
occurance of the >>> pos = fruit.find('na')
substring >>> print pos

• If the substring is not

2
>>> aa = fruit.find('z')
found, find() returns -1 >>> print aa
• Remember that string
-1
position starts at zero
 Making everything UPPER
CASE
• You can make a copy of a string in
>>> greet = 'Hello Bob'
>>> nnn = greet.upper()
lower case or upper case >>> print nnn
• Often when we are searching for a HELLO BOB
>>> www = greet.lower()
string using find() - we first convert
the string to lower case so we can >>> print www
search a string regardless of case hello bob
>>>
 Search and Replace
• The replace()
function is like a
“search and >>> greet = 'Hello Bob'
replace” operation >>> nstr = greet.replace('Bob','Jane')
in a word processor >>> print nstr
Hello Jane
• It replaces all >>> nstr = greet.replace('o','X')
occurrences of the >>> print nstrHellX BXb
search string with >>>
the replacement
string
 Stripping Whitespace
• Sometimes we want to take
a string and remove >>> greet = ' Hello Bob '
whitespace at the beginning >>> greet.lstrip()
and/or end 'Hello Bob '
>>> greet.rstrip()
• lstrip() and rstrip() to the left ' Hello Bob'
and right only >>> greet.strip()
'Hello Bob'
• strip() Removes both begin >>>
and ending whitespace
 Prefixes

>>> line = 'Please have a nice day’

>>> line.startswith('Please')
True
>>> line.startswith('p')
False
 21 31

From [email protected] Sat Jan 5 09:14:16 2008

>>> data = 'From [email protected] Sat Jan 5 09:14:16 2008’

>>> atpos = data.find('@')
>>> print atpos
21
>>> sppos = data.find(' ',atpos)
>>> print sppos
31
>>> host = data[atpos+1 : sppos]
>>> print host Parsing and
uct.ac.za Extracting
 Summary
• String type
• Read/Convert
• Indexing strings []
• Slicing strings [2:4]
• Looping through strings with for and while
• Concatenating strings with +
• String operations