Python: More Fun with Strings

Python Tells it Straight: Size Matters

It's true; Python is a size queen. It's obsessed with comparing strings, numbers, you name it. It may not make a lot of sense, though, as to how Python sees the value of different strings (uppercase Z is less than lowercase A).

To compare the size of strings, we use the < and > comparison operators, like so:

(type each of these lines at the command prompt)

'A' < 'x'

'X' > 'x'

'1' > 'z'

'$' > 'b'

'$' < '#'

It should return a True or False, depending upon whether or not the comparison is...well, true or false.

You can also try these...

'apples' > 'Apples'

'Fred' > 'fReD'

'11111' > '22222'

And of course you can use Python to compare movies as well:

'Star Trek' > 'Star Wars'

'The Matrix' > 'Star Wars'

'The Matrix' > 'Any Movie'

See? Python sure does know its movies...

The rules for which strings are bigger is like so:

• Letters at the start of the alphabet are smaller than those at the end

• Capital letters are smaller than lowercase letters

• Numbers are smaller than letters

• Punctuation marks (aside from curly braces, pipe characters, and the tilde) are smaller than numbers and letters.