What is Python?

Python is a popular programming language. It was created by Guido van

Rossum, and released in 1991.

It is used for:

 web development (server-side),

 software development,
 mathematics,
 system scripting.

What can Python do?

 Python can be used on a server to create web applications.
 Python can be used alongside software to create workflows.
 Python can connect to database systems. It can also read and modify
files.
 Python can be used to handle big data and perform complex
mathematics.
 Python can be used for rapid prototyping, or for production-ready
software development.

Why Python?
 Python works on different platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi,
etc).
 Python has a simple syntax similar to the English language.
 Python has syntax that allows developers to write programs with fewer
lines than some other programming languages.
 Python runs on an interpreter system, meaning that code can be
executed as soon as it is written. This means that prototyping can be very
quick.
 Python can be treated in a procedural way, an object-orientated way or a
functional way.

Good to know
 The most recent major version of Python is Python 3, which we shall be
using in this tutorial. However, Python 2, although not being updated with
anything other than security updates, is still quite popular.
  In this tutorial Python will be written in a text editor. It is possible to write
Python in an Integrated Development Environment, such as Thonny,
Pycharm, Netbeans or Eclipse which are particularly useful when
managing larger collections of Python files.

Python Syntax compared to other programming languages

 Python was designed for readability, and has some similarities to the
English language with influence from mathematics.
 Python uses new lines to complete a command, as opposed to other
programming languages which often use semicolons or parentheses.
 Python relies on indentation, using whitespace, to define scope; such as
the scope of loops, functions and classes. Other programming languages
often use curly-brackets for this purpose.

Python Indentation
Indentation refers to the spaces at the beginning of a
code line.

Where in other programming languages the indentation

in code is for readability only, the indentation in Python
is very important.

Python uses indentation to indicate a block of code.

Example
if 5 > 2:
print("Five is greater than two!")

Python Variables
In Python variables are created the moment you assign
a value to it:

Example
Variables in Python:

x = 5
y = "Hello, World!"
Run example »

Python has no command for declaring a variable.

You will learn more about variables in the Python

Variables chapter.

Comments
Python has commenting capability for the purpose of
in-code documentation.

Comments start with a #, and Python will render the

rest of the line as a comment:

Example
Comments in Python:

#This is a comment.
print("Hello, World!")
Multi Line Comments
Python does not really have a syntax for multi line
comments.

To add a multiline comment you could insert a # for

each line:

Example
#This is a comment
#written in
#more than just one line
print("Hello, World!")

Since Python will ignore string literals that are not

assigned to a variable, you can add a multiline string
(triple quotes) in your code, and place you comment
inside it:

Example
"""
This is a comment
written in
more than just one line
"""
print("Hello, World!")
Run example »
As long as the string is not assigned to a variable,
Python will read the code, but then ignore it, and you
have made a multiline comment.

Python Variables
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Creating Variables
Variables are containers for storing data values.

Unlike other programming languages, Python has no

command for declaring a variable.

A variable is created the moment you first assign a

value to it.

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(x)
print(y)
Run example »

Variables do not need to be declared with any particular

type and can even change type after they have been
set.

Example
x = 4 # x is of type int
x = "Sally" # x is now of type str
print(x)
Run example »

String variables can be declared either by using single

or double quotes:

Example
x = "John"
# is the same as
x = 'John'

Variable Names
A variable can have a short name (like x and y) or a
more descriptive name (age, carname, total_volume).
Rules for Python variables:

 A variable name must start with a letter or the

underscore character
 A variable name cannot start with a number
 A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric
characters and underscores (A-z, 0-9, and _ )
 Variable names are case-sensitive (age, Age and
AGE are three different variables)

Assign Value to Multiple

Variables
Python allows you to assign values to multiple variables
in one line:

Example
x, y, z = "Orange", "Banana", "Cherry"
print(x)
print(y)
print(z)
And you can assign the same value to multiple
variables in one line:

Example
x = y = z = "Orange"
print(x)
print(y)
print(z)

Output Variables
The Python print statement is often used to output
variables.

To combine both text and a variable, Python uses

the + character:

Example
x = "awesome"
print("Python is " + x)
You can also use the + character to add a variable to
another variable:

Example
x = "Python is "
y = "awesome"
z = x + y
print(z)

For numbers, the + character works as a mathematical

operator:

Example
x = 5
y = 10
print(x + y)
Run example »

If you try to combine a string and a number, Python

will give you an error:

Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print(x + y)
Global Variables
Variables that are created outside of a function (as in
all of the examples above) are known as global
variables.

Global variables can be used by everyone, both inside

of functions and outside.

Example
Create a variable outside of a function, and use it inside
the function

x = "awesome"

def myfunc():
print("Python is " + x)

myfunc()

If you create a variable with the same name inside a

function, this variable will be local, and can only be
used inside the function. The global variable with the
same name will remain as it was, global and with the
original value.

Example
Create a variable inside a function, with the same name
as the global variable

x = "awesome"

def myfunc():
x = "fantastic"
print("Python is " + x)

myfunc()

print("Python is " + x)

The global Keyword

Normally, when you create a variable inside a function,
that variable is local, and can only be used inside that
function.

To create a global variable inside a function, you can

use the global keyword.

Example
If you use the global keyword, the variable belongs to
the global scope:

def myfunc():
global x
x = "fantastic"

myfunc()

print("Python is " + x)

Built-in Data Types

In programming, data type is an important concept.

Variables can store data of different types, and different

types can do different things.

Python has the following data types built-in by default,

in these categories:

Text Type: str

Numeric Types: int, float, complex

Sequence Types: list, tuple, range

Mapping Type: dict

Set Types: set, frozenset

Boolean Type: bool

Binary Types: bytes, bytearray, memoryview

Getting the Data Type

You can get the data type of any object by using
the type() function:

Example
Print the data type of the variable x:

x = 5
print(type(x))

Setting the Data Type

In Python, the data type is set when you assign a value
to a variable:

Example

x = "Hello World"

x = 20

x = 20.5

x = 1j

x = ["apple", "banana", "cherry"]

x = ("apple", "banana", "cherry")

x = range(6)

x = {"name" : "John", "age" : 36}

x = {"apple", "banana", "cherry"}

x = frozenset({"apple", "banana", "cherry"})

x = True

x = b"Hello"

x = bytearray(5)
x = memoryview(bytes(5))

Type Conversion
You can convert from one type to another with the int(), float(),
and complex() methods:

Example
Convert from one type to another:

x = 1 # int
y = 2.8 # float
z = 1j # complex

#convert from int to float:

a = float(x)

#convert from float to int:

b = int(y)

#convert from int to complex:

c = complex(x)

print(a)
print(b)
print(c)
print(type(a))
print(type(b))
print(type(c))

Python Casting
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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
Integers:

x = int(1) # x will be 1
y = int(2.8) # y will be 2
z = int("3") # z will be 3

Run example »

Example
Floats:

x = float(1) # x will be 1.0

y = float(2.8) # y will be 2.8
z = float("3") # z will be 3.0
w = float("4.2") # w will be 4.2

Example
Strings:

x = str("s1") # x will be 's1'

y = str(2) # y will be '2'
z = str(3.0) # z will be '3.0'

Python Strings
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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:

Example
print("Hello")
print('Hello')
Run example »

Assign String to a Variable

Assigning a string to a variable is done with the variable
name followed by an equal sign and the string:

Example
a = "Hello"
print(a)
Run example »

Multiline Strings
You can assign a multiline string to a variable by using
three quotes:

Example
You can use three double quotes:

a = """Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua."""
print(a)
Run example »

Or three single quotes:

Example
a = '''Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.'''
print(a)

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.
Example
Get the character at position 1 (remember that the first
character has the position 0):

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a[1])
Run example »

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):

b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[2:5])
Run example »

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,
starting the count from the end of the string:

b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[-5:-2])
Run example »

String Length
To get the length of a string, use the len() function.

Example
The len() function returns the length of a string:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(len(a))
Run example »

String Methods
Python has a set of built-in methods that you can use
on strings.

Example
The strip() method removes any whitespace from the
beginning or the end:
a = " Hello, World! "
print(a.strip()) # returns "Hello, World!"
Run example »

Example
The lower() method returns the string in lower case:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.lower())
Run example »

Example
The upper() method returns the string in upper case:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.upper())
Run example »

Example
The replace() method replaces a string with another
string:

a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.replace("H", "J"))
Run example »

Example
The split() method splits the string into substrings if
it finds instances of the separator:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.split(",")) # returns ['Hello', '
World!']
Run example »

Learn more about String Methods with our String

Methods Reference

Check String
To check if a certain phrase or character is present in a
string, we can use the keywords in or not in.

Example
Check if the phrase "ain" is present in the following
text:

txt = "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the

plain"
x = "ain" in txt
print(x)
Run example »

Example
Check if the phrase "ain" is NOT present in the following
text:
txt = "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the
plain"
x = "ain" not in txt
print(x)
Run example »

String Concatenation
To concatenate, or combine, two strings you can use
the + operator.

Example
Merge variable a with variable b into variable c:

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + b
print(c)
Run example »

Example
To add a space between them, add a " ":

a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + " " + b
print(c)
Run example »

String Format
As we learned in the Python Variables chapter, we
cannot combine strings and numbers like this:

Example
age = 36
txt = "My name is John, I am " + age
print(txt)
Run example »

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:

Example
Use the format() method to insert numbers into
strings:

age = 36
txt = "My name is John, and I am {}"
print(txt.format(age))
Run example »
The format() method takes unlimited number of
arguments, and are placed into the respective
placeholders:

Example
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = "I want {} pieces of item {} for {}
dollars."
print(myorder.format(quantity, itemno, price))
Run example »

You can use index numbers {0} to be sure the

arguments are placed in the correct placeholders:

Example
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = "I want to pay {2} dollars for {0}
pieces of item {1}."
print(myorder.format(quantity, itemno, price))