Strings are one of the most commonly used data types in Python. Whether you're reading user input, processing text data, or working with files, you'll be using strings a lot.

In this article, you'll learn everything about Python strings, including:

• What they are

• How to create and manipulate them

• String methods

• Formatting techniques

• Tips and common mistakes

What is a String?

A string is a sequence of characters enclosed in quotes.

✅ You can use:

• Single quotes ' '

• Double quotes " "

• Triple quotes ''' ''' or """ """ (for multi-line strings)

Example:

name = "Alice"
message = 'Hello, World!'
paragraph = """This is a
multi-line string."""

 Accessing Characters in a String

Strings are indexed, starting from 0. You can access individual characters using brackets:

name = "Python"
print(name[0])  # Output: P
print(name[-1]) # Output: n (last character)

String Slicing

You can extract parts of a string using slicing:

s = "Hello, World!"
print(s[0:5])    # Output: Hello
print(s[:5])     # Output: Hello (start is optional)
print(s[7:])     # Output: World!
print(s[-6:-1])  # Output: World

Syntax: string[start:stop] (stop index is excluded)

➕ String Concatenation and Repetition

Concatenation:

first = "Hello"
last = "World"
print(first + " " + last)  # Output: Hello World

Repetition:

print("Ha" * 3)  # Output: HaHaHa

Looping Through Strings

word = "Python"
for char in word:
    print(char)

 String Methods (Built-in Functions)

Python provides many helpful string methods:

String Formatting

1. f-strings (Recommended, Python 3.6+)

name = "Alice"
age = 30
print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")

2. str.format() method

print("My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format(name, age))

3. % formatting (old style)

print("My name is %s and I am %d years old." % (name, age))

Example: Word Reversal Tool

text = input("Enter a word: ")
reversed_text = text[::-1]
print(f"The reversed word is: {reversed_text}")

String Length

Use len() to get the number of characters:

s = "Python"
print(len(s))  # Output: 6

Escape Characters

Use backslash \ to insert special characters:

print("Hello\nWorld")
print("She said, \"Hi!\"")

Raw Strings

Use r"..." to ignore escape characters (common in file paths):

path = r"C:\Users\Alice"
print(path)

Tips for Working with Strings

• Use f-strings for clean and efficient formatting.

• Remember strings are immutable – you can’t change characters directly.

• Use .strip() to clean up input from users or files.

• Break long strings using \ or parentheses:

long_string = (
    "This is a very long string "
    "that spans multiple lines."
)

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

What's Next?

Once you're comfortable with strings, dive deeper into:

• Regular expressions (with the re module)

• String encoding and decoding

• Text processing and file I/O

Summary