PYTHON DATA
TYPES, NUMBERS
AND CASTING
At the end of this lesson…
• Identify and list the different built-in data types
• Get and set the data type of a variable
• Differentiate Int, Float and String
Built-in Data Types
• In programming, data type is an
Text Type:
important concept.
Text type: str
• Variables can store data of
Numeric types: int, float, complex
different types, and different
types can do different things. Sequence types; list, tuple, range
Mapping type: dict
Set types: set, frozenset
•Python has the following data
types built-in by default, in these Boolean type: bool
categories: Binary types: bytes, bytearray, memoryview
Getting the Data Type
You can get the data type of any object by using the type()
function.
Setting the Data Type
In Python, the data
type is set when you
assign a value to a
variable:
Setting the Specific Data Type
Python Numbers
There are three numeric types in Python:
•int
•float
•complex
Variables of numeric types are created when
you assign a value to them:
Example
Example:
x = 1 # int
y = 2.8 # float
z = 1j # complex
To verify the type of any object in Python,
use the TYPE function.
int
Int, or integer, is a whole number, positive or negative, without
decimals, of unlimited length.
float
Float, or "floating point number" is a number, positive or negative,
containing one or more decimals.
float
Float can also be scientific numbers with an "e" to
indicate the power of 10.
complex
Complex numbers are written with a "j" as the imaginary part:
Type Comparison
You can convert from one type to another with the
int(), float(), complex() methods:
Random Number
Python does not have a random() function to make number, but
Python has a built-in module called random that can be used to
make random numbers:
Example
Import the random module, and display a random number
between 1 and 9:
Python Casting
Specify a Variable Type
• There may be times when you want to specify a type on to a variable.
This can be done with casting. Python is an object-orientated
language, and as such it uses classes to define data types, including its
primitive types.
• Casting in python is therefore done using constructor functions:
• Int()- constructs an integer number from an integer literal, a float literal (by rounding down to
the previous whole number), or a string literal (providing the string represents a whole
number)
• Float() - constructs a float number from an integer literal, a float literal or a string literal
(providing the string represents a float or an integer)
• Str()- constructs a string from a wide variety of data types, including strings, integer literals
and float literals
Example
float
str
Python Casting
STRING LITERALS
String literals in python are surrounded by either single quotation
marks, or double quotation marks.
'hello' is the same as "hello".
You can display a string literal with
the print() function:
Assign String to a Variable
String literals in python are surrounded by either single quotation
marks, or double quotation marks.
Multiline String
You can assign a multiline string to a variable by using three
quotes:
Strings are Arrays
• Like many other popular programming languages, strings in Python
are arrays of bytes representing unicode characters.
• However, Python does not have a character data type, a single
character is simply a string with a length of 1.
• Square brackets can be used to access elements of the string.
Looping Through a String
Slicing
• You can return a range of characters by using the slice syntax.
• Specify the start index and the end index, separated by a colon, to return
a part of the string.
Example
Get the characters from position 2 to position 5 (not included):
Slice From the Start
• By leaving out the start index, the range will start at the first
character.
Slice To the End
• By leaving out the end index, the range will go to the end:
Negative Indexing
Use negative indexes to start the slice from the end of the string:
Example
Get the characters from position 5 to position 1 (not included), starting the
count from the end of the string:
String Concatenation
To concatenate, or combine, two strings you can use the + operator.
Ex: Merge variable a with variable b into variable c:
Format String
Strings and numbers cannot be combined.
Format String
But we can combine strings and numbers by using the format()
method!
The format() method takes the passed arguments, formats them,
and places them in the string where the placeholders {} are:
Format String
The format() method takes unlimited number of arguments, and are
placed into the respective placeholders:
Format String
You can use index numbers {0} to be sure the arguments are placed
in the correct placeholders:
Format String
Format the price to be displayed as a number with two decimals:
Format String more examples
Escape Character
To insert characters that are illegal in a string, use an escape
character.
An escape character is a backslash \ followed by the character you
want to insert.
VS
Escape Character
String Length
To get the length of a string, use the len() function.
Example
The len() function returns the length of a string:
String Methods
Python has a set of built-in methods that you can use on
strings.
The strip () method removes any whitespace from the
beginning or the end:
Example:
String Methods
The lower() method returns the string in lower case:
Example:
The Upper() method returns the string in upper case:
String Methods
THANK YOU!
