Python Strings

To create a string in Python, wrap your text in quotation marks. Single and double quotes both work, so 'hello' and "hello" give you the very same value.

The print() function shows a string literal on the screen.

A string may contain quote characters, but they have to be a different kind from the ones wrapping the string.

To store a string in a variable, write the variable's name, then an equal sign, then the string.

Three quotes in a row let you store a string that spans several lines in a variable.

Note: The output keeps each line break exactly where it sits in your code.

Three double quotes do the job:

So do three single quotes:

As in many other languages, a Python string is essentially an array of Unicode characters.

There is no separate type for a single character, though. One character is just a string whose length is 1.

To reach an element of a string, put its position in square brackets.

Fetch position 1 from the string. Positions are counted from 0, so this gives us the second character:

Because a string works like an array, a for loop can visit its characters one at a time.

Print each letter of "banana" on its own line:

The built-in len() function tells you how long a string is.

Here, len() counts the characters and gives back 13:

The keyword in tells you whether a particular phrase or character appears somewhere inside a string.

Look for "free" in this sentence:

Combine it with if to print only when "free" is found:

To confirm that a phrase or character is absent from a string, use not in instead.

Confirm that "expensive" does not appear in this sentence:

Print a message only when "expensive" is missing: