Python String

Last Updated : 18 May, 2026

Strings are sequence of characters written inside quotes. It can include letters, numbers, symbols and spaces. Python does not have a separate character type.

  • A single character is treated as a string of length one.
  • Strings are commonly used for text handling and manipulation.

Creating a String

Strings can be created using either single ('...') or double ("...") quotes. Both behave the same.

Python 
a = 'GfG'  
b = "GfG"  
print(a)
print(b)

Output
GfG
GfG

Multi-line Strings

Use triple quotes ('''...''' ) or ( """...""") for strings that span multiple lines. Newlines are preserved.

Python 
s = """I am Learning
Python String on GeeksforGeeks"""
print(s)

s = '''I'm a 
Geek'''
print(s)

Output
I am Learning
Python String on GeeksforGeeks
I'm a 
Geek

Accessing Characters in String

Strings are indexed sequences. Positive indices start at 0 from the left, negative indices start at -1 from the right as represented in below image:

frame_3086
Positive and Negative Indexing

Example 1: Access specific characters through positive indexing.

Python 
s = "GeeksforGeeks"
print(s[0])   
print(s[4])

Output
G
s

Note: Accessing an index out of range will cause an IndexError. Only integers are allowed as indices and using a float or other types will result in a TypeError.

Example 2: Read characters from the end using negative indices.

Python 
s = "GeeksforGeeks"
print(s[-10])  
print(s[-5])

Output
k
G

String Slicing

Slicing is a way to extract a portion of a string by specifying the start and end indexes. The syntax for slicing is string[start:end], where start starting index and end is stopping index (excluded).

Python 
s = "GeeksforGeeks"
print(s[1:4])    
print(s[:3])     
print(s[3:])    
print(s[::-1])

Output
eek
Gee
ksforGeeks
skeeGrofskeeG

Looping Through Strings

Strings are iterable, which means we can access each character one by one using a loop.

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

Output
P
y
t
h
o
n

Explanation: for loop goes through the string in order and each iteration prints the next character.

String Immutability

Strings are immutable, meaning their values cannot be changed after creation. Any modification to a string creates a new string instead of altering the original one.

Python 
s = "geeksforGeeks"
s = "G" + s[1:]  
print(s)

Output
GeeksforGeeks

Explanation: original string "geeksforGeeks" is not modified. A new string is created by combining "G" with s[1:] (rest of the string).

Deleting a String

Individual characters of a string cannot be deleted because strings are immutable. However, an entire string variable can be removed using del keyword.

Python 
s = "GfG"
del s

Note: After deleting a string, if we try to access it, Python raises a NameError because the variable no longer exists in memory.

Updating a String

Strings cannot be changed directly after creation. So any modification results in a new string being created using slicing or methods like replace().

Python 
s = "hello geeks"
s1 = "H" + s[1:]                  
s2 = s.replace("geeks", "GeeksforGeeks")  

print(s1)
print(s2)

Output
Hello geeks
hello GeeksforGeeks

Explanation:

  • s1: slice from index 1 onward and prepend "H".
  • s2: replace("geeks", "GeeksforGeeks") returns a new string.

Common String Methods

Python provides various built-in methods to manipulate strings. Below are some of the most useful methods:

1. len(): returns the total number of characters in a string (including spaces and punctuation).

Python 
s = "GeeksforGeeks"
print(len(s))

Output
13

2. upper() and lower(): upper() method converts all characters to uppercase whereas, lower() method converts all characters to lowercase.

Python 
s = "Hello World"
print(s.upper())
print(s.lower())

Output
HELLO WORLD
hello world

3. strip() and replace(): strip() removes leading and trailing whitespace from the string and replace() replaces all occurrences of a specified substring with another.

Python 
s = "   Gfg   "
print(s.strip())    

s = "Python is fun"
print(s.replace("fun", "awesome"))

Output
Gfg
Python is awesome

To learn more about string methods, please refer to Python String Methods.

Concatenating and Repeating Strings

1. Concatenation: Strings can be combined by using + operator.

Python 
s1 = "Hello"
s2 = "World"
print(s1 + " " + s2)

Output
Hello World

2. Repetition: A string can be repeated multiple times using *.

Python 
s = "Hello "
print(s * 3)

Output
Hello Hello Hello

Formatting Strings

1. Using f-strings: f-strings allows to directly insert variables and expressions inside a string using {} brackets.

Python 
name = "Jake"
age = 22
print(f"Name: {name}, Age: {age}")

Output
Name: Jake, Age: 22

2. Using format(): format() method allows inserting values into placeholders {} inside a string.

Python 
s = "My name is {} and I am {} years old.".format( "Emily", 22)
print(s)

Output
My name is Emily and I am 22 years old.

String Membership Testing

in keyword is used to check whether a substring exists inside a string. It returns True if the substring is found, otherwise it returns False.

Python 
s = "GeeksforGeeks"
print("Geeks" in s)
print("GfG" in s)

Output
True
False

Recommended Problems: Repeat the Strings, String Functions, Convert String to LowerCase, String Duplicates Removal, Reverse String, Check Palindrome

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