How to delete a character from a string using Python

python string
Lazer picture Lazer · Aug 24, 2010 · Viewed 1.6M times · Source

There is a string, for example. EXAMPLE.

How can I remove the middle character, i.e., M from it? I don't need the code. I want to know:

  • Do strings in Python end in any special character?
  • Which is a better way - shifting everything right to left starting from the middle character OR creation of a new string and not copying the middle character?

Answer

Ned Batchelder picture Ned Batchelder · Aug 24, 2010

In Python, strings are immutable, so you have to create a new string. You have a few options of how to create the new string. If you want to remove the 'M' wherever it appears:

newstr = oldstr.replace("M", "")

If you want to remove the central character:

midlen = len(oldstr)/2   # //2 in python 3
newstr = oldstr[:midlen] + oldstr[midlen+1:]

You asked if strings end with a special character. No, you are thinking like a C programmer. In Python, strings are stored with their length, so any byte value, including \0, can appear in a string.

Related questions

Does Python have a string 'contains' substring method?

I'm looking for a string.contains or string.indexof method in Python. I want to do: if not somestring.contains("blah"): continue

Read More
How to read a file line-by-line into a list?

How do I read every line of a file in Python and store each line as an element in a list? I want to read the file line by line and append each line to the end of the list.

Read More
Converting integer to string in Python

I want to convert an integer to a string in Python. I am typecasting it in vain: d = 15 d.str() When I try to convert it to string, it's showing an error like int doesn't have any attribute called str.

Read More