Chapter 3: String

Prepared by: Hanan Hardan

07/19/23 1
 Python String

• Strings in python are surrounded by either single quotation

marks, or double quotation marks.
'hello' is the same as "hello".

• Assign String to a Variable

a = "Hello“
Print(a)
 Python String

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

• You can use three double quotes:
Example:
a = """Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. """
• 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)
Note: in the result, the line breaks are inserted at the same position as in the code.
 Str Class

• str() creates an empty string.

s=str()

Can also assign using:

strValue = " "
 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.
Note: remember that the first character has the position 0
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a[1])
 Looping Through a String

• Since strings are arrays, we can loop through the

characters in a string, with a for loop.

Example
Loop through the letters in the word "banana":

for x in "banana":
print(x)
 String Length

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

Example:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(len(a))
 Check String

• To check if a certain phrase or character is present in a string,

we can use the keyword in.
Example: Check if "free" is present in the following text:
txt = "The best things in life are free! "
Solution:
txt = "The best things in life are free!"
if "free" in txt:
  print("Yes, 'free' is present.")
 Check if NOT

• To check if a certain phrase or character is NOT present in a

string, we can use the keyword not in.
Example: Check if "expensive" is NOT present in the following
text:
txt = "The best things in life are free!“
Solution:
txt = "The best things in life are free!"
if "expensive" not in txt:
  print("Yes, 'expensive' is NOT present.")
 strings Generating a New string

Syntax Semantics
dataA + dataB Generates a third string
Example: that is dataB items added
x='ABC' to the end of dataA.
y='DEF'
z=x+y
print(z)
 strings Generating a New string (continued)

Syntax Semantics
data * k Generates a new list of
Example: data items repeated k
x='ABC' times. 'ABC' * 3 becomes
'ABCABCABC'
z=x*3
print(z)
 strings Generating a New string (continued)

Syntax Semantics
dataA += dataB dataA becomes dataA with
Example: dataB added to the end.
x='ABC' This is the same as dataA
= dataA + dataB
y='DEF'
x+=y
print(x)
 strings Generating a New string (continued)

Syntax Semantics
data *= k data becomes data k
Example: times. This is the same as
x='ABC' data = data * k
x*=3
print(x)
 Example 1

Write a Python program find the common values that appear in

two given strings. Sample Output:
Original strings:
Python3
Python2.7
Intersection of two said String:
Python
 Example 1

def intersection_of_two_string(str1, str2):

result = ""
for ch in str1:
if ch in str2 and ch not in result:
result += ch
return result
str1 = 'Python3'
str2 = 'Python2.7'
print("Original strings:")
print(str1)
print(str2)
print("\nIntersection of two said String:")
print(intersection_of_two_string(str1, str2))
 Python - Slicing Strings

• 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])
• By leaving out the start index, the range will start at the first character:
b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[:5])
• By leaving out the end index, the range will go to the end:
b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[2:])
 Python - Slicing Strings

Negative Indexing
•Use negative indexes to start the slice from the end of the
string:
Example: Get the characters From: "o" in "World!" (position -5)
To, but not included: "d" in "World!" (position -2):
Solution:
b = "Hello, World!"
print(b[-5:-2])
 Example 2

Write a Python program to get a string made of the first 2 and the last 2 chars
from a given a string. If the string length is less than 2, return instead of the
empty string. 
Sample String : 'w3resource‘
Expected Result : 'w3ce'

def string_both_ends(str):
if len(str) < 2:
return ''
return str[0:2] + str[-2:]
print(string_both_ends('w3resource'))
print(string_both_ends('w3'))
print(string_both_ends('w'))
 Example 3

Write a Python function to get a string made of 4 copies of the last two
characters of a specified string (length must be at least 2).
Sample function and result :
insert_end('Python') -> onononon
insert_end('Exercises') -> eseseses

def insert_end(str):
sub_str = str[-2:]
return sub_str * 4

print(insert_end('Python'))
print(insert_end('Exercises'))
 Example 4

Write a Python program to get a single string from two given strings,
separated by a space and swap the first two characters of each string.
Sample String : 'abc', 'xyz'
Expected Result : 'xyc abz'

def chars_mix_up(a, b):

new_a = b[:2] + a[2:]
new_b = a[:2] + b[2:]

return new_a + ' ' + new_b

print(chars_mix_up('abc', 'xyz'))
 Example 5

Write a Python program to remove the characters which have odd index
values of a given string.

def odd_values_string(str):
result = ""
for i in range(len(str)):
if i % 2 == 0:
result = result + str[i]
return result

print(odd_values_string('abcdef'))
print(odd_values_string('python'))
 Python - Modify Strings

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

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

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

strip() The strip() method removes any whitespace from the

beginning or the end:

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

split() The split() method returns a list where the text between the
specified separator becomes the list items.

find(pattern,start) find(pattern,start),Returns index position of pattern in s

beginning at start. Start default is 0. Not found return -1.
 Python - Modify Strings

Example 1:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.upper())
print(a.lower())
Example 2:
a = " Hello, World! "
print(a.strip()) # returns "Hello, World!“
Example 3:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.replace("H", "J"))
Example 4:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.split(",")) # returns ['Hello', ' World!']
 Python - Modify Strings

Example 4:
a = "Hello, World!"
print(a.split(",")) # returns ['Hello', ' World!']
Example 5:
request = 'eggs and milk and apples'
print(request)
x=request.split( ) # returns ['eggs', 'and', 'milk', 'and', 'apples']
print(x)
x=request.split('and') # returns ['eggs ', ' milk ', ' apples']
print(x)
x=request.split(' and ') # returns ['eggs', 'milk', 'apples']
print(x)
 Python - Modify Strings

Example 6:
s="computer information system“
print(s.find("information"))
print(s.find("information“,3))
print(s.find("information",10)) 9
9
-1
 Example 8

Write a Python script that takes input from the user and displays that input
back in upper and lower cases.
Sample Output:
What's your favourite language? english

My favourite language is ENGLISH

My favourite language is english

Solution:
user_input = input("What's your favourite language? ")
print("My favourite language is ", user_input.upper())
print("My favourite language is ", user_input.lower())
 Example 9

Write a Python program to get a string from a given string where all
occurrences of its first char have been changed to '$', except the first char
itself. 
Sample String : 'restart‘
Expected Result : 'resta$t'

def change_char(str1):
char = str1[0]
str1 = str1.replace(char, '$')
str1 = char + str1[1:]
return str1

print(change_char('restart'))
 Python - String Format

• As we learned in the Python Variables chapter, we cannot combine strings

and numbers like this:
age = 36
txt = "My name is John, I am " + age # error
• 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
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = "I want {} pieces of item {} for {} dollars."
print(myorder.format(quantity, itemno, price))
 Python - String Format

• 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))