FET – B.

Tech (CS & E)

Computer Programming Paradigm (Python)

(2601102)

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Unit 2.3 String
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BDr. Tejaskumar Bhatt
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Prepared By:
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Reference:
• Rao, R. N. (2009). Core Python programming (2nd ed.). Dreamtech Press
• Chun, W. (2007). Core Python programming (1st ed.). Pearson.
• Lutz, M. (2013). Learning Python (5th ed.). O'Reilly Media.
Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )
FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
 A string represents a group of characters.
 Strings are important because most of the data that we use in daily life will be in
the form of strings.
 For example, the names of persons, their addresses, vehicle numbers, their credit
card numbers, etc. are all strings.
 In Python, the str datatype represents a string.

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String
Creating String
 Create a string in Python by assigning a group of characters to a variable.
 The group of characters should be enclosed inside single quotes or double quotes.
 s1 = 'Welcome to Core Python learning'
 print(s1)
 s2 = "Welcome to Core Python learning"

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 There is no difference between the single quotes and double quotes while creating

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the strings. Both will work in the same manner.

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 Sometimes, we can use triple single quotes or triple double quotes to represent

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strings. These quotation marks are useful when we want to represent a string that

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occupies several lines.
 str3 = '''Welcome to Core Python, a book on Python language that discusses all
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important concepts of Python in a lucid and comprehensive manner.'''
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 str4 = """Welcome to Core Python, a book on Python language that discusses all
important concepts of Python in a lucid and comprehensive manner."""
Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )
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String

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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Creating String
 To create a string with Unicode characters, we should add ‘u’ at the beginning of
the string.
 Unicode is a standard to include the alphabet of various human languages into
programming languages like Python or Java.
 For example, it is possible to display the alphabet of Hindi, French, and German

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languages using Unicode system.

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 Each Unicode character contains 4 digits preceded by a \u.

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 The following statement displays ‘Core Python’ in Hindi using Unicode characters.

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There are 9 Unicode characters used(including space) for this purpose.

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name = u'\u0915\u094b\u0930\u0020\u092a\u0948\u0925\u0964\u0928'
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 print(name)
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 Output: कोर पैथ।न

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String
Length of a String
 Length of a string represents the number of characters in a string.
 To know the length of a string, we can use the len() function.
 This function gives the number of characters including spaces in the string.
str = 'Core Python'

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n = len(str)

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print(n)

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 Output:11

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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Indexing in Strings
 Index represents the position number.
 Index is written using square braces [].
 By specifying the position number through an index, we can refer to the individual
elements (or characters) of a string.
 For example, str[0] refers to the 0th element of the string and str[1] refers to the 1st

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element of the string.

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 Thus, str[i] can be used to refer to ith element of the string.

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 Here, ‘i’ is called the string index because it is specifying the position number of

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the element in the string.
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 When we use index as a negative number, it refers to elements in the reverse
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order. Thus, str[-1] refers to the last element and str[-2] refers to second element
from last.
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String

 The format of slicing is stringname[start: stop: stepsize].

 If ‘start’ and ‘stop’ are not specified, then it is taken from 0th to n-1th elements.
 If ‘stepsize’ is not written, then it is taken to be 1.
 Hence, the following loop will display all the elements of the string:
for i in str[: : ]: # do not mention start, stop and stepsize

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print(i)

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 To get the elements in reverse order, we should use stepsize negative as: -1.

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 This will display the elements from last to first in steps of 1 in reverse order.
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 The for loop in this case looks like this:
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for i in str[: : -1]: # take stepsize as -1

print(i)

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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
A Python program to access the characters of a string using for loop.
# accessing elements of a string using for loop
str = 'Core Python'
for i in str: # access each letter using for loop
print(i, end=' ')

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print() # put cursor into next line

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for i in str[:: -1]: # access in reverse order

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print(i, end=' ')

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 O/P:
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C:\>python [Link]
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Core Python
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nohtyPeroC

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String
Slicing the Strings
 A slice represents a part or piece of a string. The format of slicing is:
 stringname[start: stop: stepsize]
str = 'Core Python'
str[0:9:1] # access string from 0th to 8th element in steps of 1
 O/P: Core Pyth

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 When ‘stepsize’ is 2, then it will access every other character from 1 st character

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onwards. Hence it retrieves the 0th, 2nd, 4th , 6th characters and so on.

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 str[0:9:2]
 O/P: Cr yh
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 Str[2:4:1] # access from str[2] to str[3] in steps of 1

 Output: re
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String
Slicing the Strings
 Str[::2] # access entire string in steps of 2
 Output: Cr yhn

 Str[2::] # access string from str[2] to ending

 Output:

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re Python

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 Str[:4:] # access string from str[0] to str[3] in steps of 1

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 Output:

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Core

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 str = 'Core Python'
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 str[-4:-1] # access from str[-4] to str[-2] from left to right in str.

 Output: tho

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String
Slicing the Strings
 Str[-6::] # access from str[-6] till the end of the string
 Output: Python

 Str[-1:-4:-1] # retrieve from str[-1] to str[-3] from right to left

 Output: 'noh'

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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Repeating the Strings
 The repetition operator is denoted by ‘*’ symbol and is useful to repeat the string
for several times.
 For example, str * n repeats the string for n times. See the example:
 str = 'Core Python'
 print(str*2)

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 Output: Core PythonCore Python

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 Similarly, it is possible to repeat a part of the string obtained by slicing as:

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 s = str[5:7]*3 # repeat 5th 6th characters for 3 times
 print(s)
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 Output: PyPyPy
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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Concatenation of Strings
 We can use ‘+’ on strings to attach a string at the end of another string.
 This operator ‘+’ is called addition operator when used on numbers.
 But, when used on strings, it is called ‘concatenation’ operator since it joins or
concatenates the strings.
 Similar result can be achieved using the join() method also.

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 s1='Core'

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 s2="Python"

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 s3=s1+s2 # concatenate s1 and s2

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 print(s3) # display the total string s3
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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Checking Membership
 We can check if a string or character is a member of another string or not using
‘in’ or ‘not in’ operators.
 The not in Operator
 The in Operator
 It checks if something exists inside a string.  It is the opposite of in.
 If it is found → returns True.  If it is not found → returns True.
 If not found → returns False.  If found → returns False.

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 # to know whether sub string is in main string or not

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 str = input('Enter main string: ')
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 if sub in str:
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sub = input('Enter sub string: ') C:\>python [Link]
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Enter main string: This is Core Python
 print(sub+' is found in main string') Enter sub string: Core
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 else: Core is found in main string

 print(sub+' is not found in the main string')

Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Comparing Strings
 The relational operators like >, >=, <, <=, == or != operators to compare two
strings. They return Boolean value, i.e. either True or False depending on the
strings being compared.
s1='Box' if s1<s2:
s2='Boy' print('s1 less than s2')
if(s1==s2): else:

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print('Both are same') print('s1 greater than or equal to s2')

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else:

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print('Not same')

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 This code returns ‘Not same’ as the strings are not same. While comparing the

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strings, Python interpreter compares them by taking them in English dictionary
order.
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 The string which comes first in the dictionary order will have a low value than the
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string which comes next. It means, ‘A’ is less than ‘B’ which is less than ‘C’ and so
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on.
 In the above example, the string ‘s1’ comes before the string ‘s2’ and hence s1 is
less than s2.
Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )
FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Removing Spaces from a String
 A space is also considered as a character inside a string. Sometimes, the
unnecessary spaces in a string will lead to wrong results.
 For example, a person typed his name ‘TejasBhatt‘ (observe two spaces at the end
of the string) instead of typing ‘TejasBhatt’.
 If we compare these two strings using ‘==’ operator as:
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'TejasBhatt '== 'TejasBhatt':

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 print('Welcome')

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 else:

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 print('Name not found')

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 The output will be ‘Name not found’.

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 In this way, spaces may lead to wrong results.
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 Hence such spaces should be removed from the strings before they are compared.
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 This is possible using rstrip(), lstrip() and strip() methods.

Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Removing Spaces from a String
 The rstrip() method removes the spaces which are at the right side of the string.
 The lstrip() method removes spaces which are at the left side of the string.
 The strip() method removes spaces from both the sides of the strings.
 These methods do not remove spaces which are in the middle of the string.
 name = ' TejasBhatt ' #observe spaces before and after the name

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 print([Link]()) # remove spaces at right

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 print([Link]()) # remove spaces at left

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 print([Link]()) # remove spaces from both sides

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 Output: TejasBhatt (C LS
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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Finding Sub Strings
 The find(), rfind(), index() and rindex() methods are useful to locate sub strings in a
string.
 These methods return the location of the first occurrence of the sub string in the
main string.
 The find() and index() methods search for the sub string from the beginning of the

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main string.

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 The rfind() and rindex() methods search for the sub string from right to left, i.e. in

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backward order.

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 The find() method returns -1 if the sub string is not found in the main string.

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 The index() method returns ‘ValueError’ exception if the sub string is not found.
 The format of find() method is:
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 [Link](substring, beginning, ending)
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Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
A Python program to find the first occurrence of sub string in a given main
string.
 # to find first occurrence of sub string in a main string
str = input('Enter main string: ')
sub = input('Enter sub string: ')
# find position of sub in str
# search from 0th to last characters in str

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n = [Link](sub, 0, len(str))

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if n == -1: # find() returns -1 if sub string is not found

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print('Sub string not found')

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else:

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print('Sub string found at position: ', n+1)

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 Output:
C:\>python [Link]
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Enter main string: This is GLS
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Enter sub string: is

Sub string is found at position: 3

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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
A Python program to find the first occurrence of sub string in a given main
string.

 observe that the Sub string position is displayed to be at ‘n+1’.

 Since find() method starts counting from 0th position and we count from 1st
position, we need to add 1 to the result given by find() method to get correct
position number.

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 The same program can be rewritten using index() method. If the sub string is not

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found, index() method returns ‘ValueError’ exception, we have to handle the

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exception in our program

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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Counting Substrings in a String
 The method count() is available to count the number of occurrences of a sub
string in a main string. The format of this method is:
 [Link](substring)
 This returns an integer number that represents how many times the substring is
found in the main string.

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 We can limit our search by specifying beginning and ending positions in the

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count() method so that the substring position is counted only in that range.

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 Hence, the other form of count() method is:[Link](substring, beg,

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end)

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 For example, we want to search for substring ‘Delhi’ in the main string ‘New Delhi’
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to know how many times the substring appeared in the main string.
 str = 'Tejas Bhatt'
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 n = [Link]('Bhatt')
 Output : 1
Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )
FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Counting Substrings in a String
 Suppose, we want to know how many times ‘e’ is repeated in the main string in
the range from 0th to 2nd characters, we can write:
 n = [Link]('e', 0, 3)
 print(n)
 Output: 1

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 If we search for ‘e’ in the main string starting from 0 th character to the end of the

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string, we can write:

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 n = [Link]('a', 0, len(str))

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 print(n)
 Output: 2
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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Replacing a String with another String
 The replace() method is useful to replace a sub string in a string with another sub
string.
 The format of using this method is: [Link](old, new)
 This will replace all the occurrences of ‘old’ sub string with ‘new’ sub string in the
main string. For example,

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 str = 'That is a beautiful girl'

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 s1 = 'girl'

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 s2 = 'flower'

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 str1 = [Link](s1, s2)
 print(str)
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#That is a beautiful girl
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 print(str1) #That is a beautiful flower

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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Splitting and Joining Strings
 The split() method is used to brake a string into pieces. These pieces are returned
as a list. For example, to brake the string ‘str’ where a comma ( , ) is found, we can
write: [Link](‘,’)
 Observe the comma inside the parentheses. It is called separator that represents
where to separate or cut the string. Similarly, the separator will be a space if we
want to cut the string at spaces.

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 In the following example, we are cutting the string ‘str’ wherever a comma is

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found. The resultant string is stored in ‘str1’ which is a list.

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 str = 'one,two,three,four'

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 str1 = [Link](',')
 print(str1)
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 The output : ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four']
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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Splitting and Joining Strings
A Python program to accept and display a group of numbers.
# to accept a group of numbers and display them.
str = input('Enter numbers separated by space: ')
# cut the string where a space is found
lst = [Link](' ')

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# display the numbers from the list

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for i in lst:

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print(i)

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 Output:C:\>python [Link]

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Enter numbers separated by space: 10 20 30 40
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10
20
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30
40
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FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Splitting and Joining Strings
 When a group of strings are given, it is possible to join them all and make a single
string. For this purpose, we can use join() method as: [Link](str)
 where, the ‘separator’ represents the character to be used between the strings in
the output. ‘str’ represents a tuple or list of strings.
 In the following example, we are taking a tuple ‘str’ that contains 3 strings as:

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 str = ('one', 'two', 'three')

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 We want to join the three strings and form a single string. Also, we want to use

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hyphen ( - ) between the three strings in the output.

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 The join() method can be written as:
 str1 = "-".join(str) S& FE
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 print(str1) # the output string is str1.
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 Output: one-two-three

Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Changing Case of a String
 Python offers 4 methods that are useful to change the case of a string. They are
upper(), lower(), swapcase(), title().
 The upper() method is used to convert all the characters of a string into uppercase
or capital letters.
 The lower() method converts the string into lowercase or into small letters.
 The swapcase() method converts the capital letters into small letters and vice

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 The title() method converts the string such that each word in the string will start

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with a capital letter and remaining will be small letters. The following examples:

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 str = 'Python is the future'
 print([Link]())
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 print([Link]())
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 print([Link]())
 print([Link]())

Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )

FET – [Link] (CS & E)

String
Changing Case of a String
 Python offers 4 methods that are useful to change the case of a string. They are
upper(), lower(), swapcase(), title().
 The upper() method is used to convert all the characters of a string into uppercase
or capital letters.
 The lower() method converts the string into lowercase or into small letters.
 The swapcase() method converts the capital letters into small letters and vice

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versa.

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 The title() method converts the string such that each word in the string will start

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with a capital letter and remaining will be small letters. The following examples:

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 str = 'Python is the future'
 print([Link]())
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 print([Link]())
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 print([Link]())
 print([Link]())

Prepared by : Dr. Tejas Bhatt Subject : Computer Programming Paradigm (Python )