If you are working with strings in Python, you may need to extract a portion of a string. This is called a substring. In this tutorial, you will learn how to get a substring of a string in Python.
Getting a substring of a string means extracting a specific portion of a string. Python provides several ways to get a substring of a string. You can use slicing, the substring() method, or the split() method. Let’s explore each of these methods in detail.
Using Slicing
Slicing is a way to extract a portion of a string by specifying the start and end indices. The syntax for slicing is as follows:
string[start:end]Here, start is the index where the slice starts (inclusive), and end is the index where the slice ends (exclusive). If you omit start, the slice starts from the beginning of the string. If you omit end, the slice ends at the end of the string. Let’s look at some examples:
string = "Hello, World!"
# Get the first five characters
substring = string[0:5]
print(substring) # Output: Hello
# Get the characters from index 7 to the end
substring = string[7:]
print(substring) # Output: World!
# Get the last six characters
substring = string[-6:]
print(substring) # Output: World!Using the Substring() Method
The substring() method is a built-in method in Python that returns a substring of a string. The syntax for the substring() method is as follows:
string.substring(start, end)Here, start is the index where the substring starts, and end is the index where the substring ends (exclusive). If you omit end, the substring extends to the end of the string. Let’s look at an example:
string = "Hello, World!"
# Get the substring from index 7 to the end
substring = string.substring(7)
print(substring) # Output: World!Using the Split() Method
The split() method is another built-in method in Python that returns a list of substrings. The syntax for the split() method is as follows:
string.split(separator, maxsplit)Here, separator is the character or characters that separate the substrings, and maxsplit is the maximum number of splits to perform. If you omit separator, the split() method uses whitespace as the separator. If you omit maxsplit, the split() method performs all possible splits. Let’s look at an example:
string = "Hello, World!"
# Split the string at the comma
substring = string.split(",")
print(substring) # Output: ['Hello', ' World!']Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned how to get a substring of a string in Python using slicing, the substring() method, and the split() method. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, so choose the one that best fits your needs.