In this epic article we will cover the various ways to manipulate string objects in Python. These range from sorting and indexing to some of the built-in string methods. So put down those knitting tools, kick that cat across the room like a football, and let's be like Olivia Newton-John (i.e., let's get physical).

The Basics

Here we are going to cover some of the basics of strings. If you need a refresher on them, you can read along. Or, if you are a string writing pro, feel free to skip over this section, or read it and get real bored and send me hate mail. Whichever you choose is fine.

Printing a string

#!/usr/local/bin/python

print "Here are some samples of basic strings:"

print " "

print "Now you know and knowing is half the battle"

print "A"

print "9"

print "%#$@!"

print "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,"

print "It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness"

print "It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity"

print "It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness"

print "This quote goes on forever..."

Storing Strings in Variables and Printing Them

#!/usr/local/bin/python

apple = "Fudgebuckets"

sentence="Look at this! It's a sentence! No wait...it's two sentences!"

print apple

print sentence

Printing Quoted Text

#!/usr/local/bin/python

print "And he said to me, 'I pity the fool!' "

print 'And I quote: "Quit yo jibba-jabba!"'

print " "

print "Notice that it is best to use single quotes when you want to do double quotes"

print "And double quotes when you want to do single quotes"