Python String Examples

Overview

Short, copy-paste examples for the most common things you do with strings in Python. Run any of them in the online Python compiler.

Examples

Reverse a string

s = "hello"
print(s[::-1])  # olleh

Uppercase and lowercase

s = "Hello World"
print(s.upper())  # HELLO WORLD
print(s.lower())  # hello world

Split into a list

row = "name,age,city"
print(row.split(","))  # ['name', 'age', 'city']

Join a list into a string

parts = ["a", "b", "c"]
print("-".join(parts))  # a-b-c

Replace text

s = "one fish two fish"
print(s.replace("fish", "cat"))  # one cat two cat

Strip surrounding whitespace

s = "  hello  "
print(s.strip())  # 'hello'
print(repr(s.strip()))  # 'hello'

Check if it contains a substring

s = "xcodx.io/editor"
print("editor" in s)  # True
print(s.startswith("xcodx"))  # True

Count occurrences

s = "banana"
print(s.count("a"))  # 3

Format numbers with an f-string

name = "Ada"
score = 0.9137
print(f"{name} scored {score:.1%}")  # Ada scored 91.4%

Reverse the words in a sentence

sentence = "the quick brown fox"
print(" ".join(sentence.split()[::-1]))  # fox brown quick the

Frequently asked questions

How do I reverse a string in Python?

Use the slice s[::-1], which returns a new reversed string, e.g. "hello"[::-1] is "olleh".

How do I split a string into a list?

Use s.split(sep). With no argument it splits on any run of whitespace and drops empty pieces.

How do I count how many times a substring appears?

Use s.count(sub), e.g. "banana".count("a") returns 3.