Working with

strings

George Boorman
Curriculum Manager, DataCamp
Strings are everywhere!

User profiles

Search engines

Large language models

Python knows single and double
quotes
# This works
my_text = 'Hello, my name is George.'

# This also works

my_text = "Hello, my name is George."

' = apostrophe = single quote

Advantages of double
quotes
# Single quote string variable containing an apostrophe
my_text = 'Hello, my name's George.'

SyntaxError: invalid syntax.

# Double quote string variable containing an apostrophe

my_text = "Hello, my name's George."

print(my_text)

Hello, my name's George.

Methods
Method = a function that is only available to a specific data type

str methods

# Calling a string method

str_variable.method()
Replacing parts of strings
.replace(text_to_be_replaced, text_to_change_it_to)

my_text = "Hello, my name's George."

# Replace George with John

my_text = my_text.replace("George", "John")
print(my_text)

Hello, my name's John.

Common use cases

Reformatting e.g., change spaces to underscores

Fixing or removing typos

Changing case
current_top_album = "For All The Dogs"

# Convert to lowercase
current_top_album = current_top_album.lower()
print(current_top_album)

for all the dogs

# Change to upppercase
current_top_album = current_top_album.upper()
print(current_top_album)

FOR ALL THE DOGS

Sentences and paragraphs
nineteen_eightyfour = "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."
Multi-line strings
# Create a string variable over multiple lines
harry_potter = """Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,

of number four Privet Drive,

were proud to say that they were perfectly normal,
thank you very much.

"""

"""text""" : Multi-line strings

Enhance readability
Avoid the need to use special characters

Longer text such as customer reviews Used

to describe what functions do

 String cheat
sheet
Syntax Purpose Example
Single quotes
''
String variable my_string = 'My string'

Double quotes
""
String variable my_string = "My string"

Triple quotes Multi-line string my_string = """My string"""

"""""" variable
my_string = my_string.replace("text_to_remove",
[Link]() Replacing parts
"text_to_change_to")
of strings
[Link]() Lowercase string my_string = my_string.lower()

[Link]() Uppercase string my_string = my_string.upper()

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 Lists
I N T R O D U C T I O N TO P Y T H O N FO R D E V E
LO P E R S

George Boorman
Curriculum Manager, DataCamp
Problem
# Variables of product prices
price_one = 10

price_two = 20
price_three = 30
price_four = 15
price_five = 25
price_six = 35
Lists to the rescue!
List = store multiple values in a single variable
Can contain any combination of data types e.g., str , float , int , bool

# List of prices
prices = [10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]

# List of prices using variables as values

prices = [price_one, price_two, price_three,

price_four, price_five, price_six]

Checking the data
type
# Check the data type of a list
type(prices)

<class 'list'>

# Check the data type of a string

type("Hello")

<class 'str'>
Accessing elements of a list
# Print all values in the list variable
print(prices)

[10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]

Lists are ordered

Can use subsetting or indexing

Python counts values starting from zero for the first element
Accessing elements of a list
List = []
prices = [10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]
Subsetting =
a_list[index] # Get the value at the first index
prices[0]

10

# Get the value at the fourth index

prices[3]

15
Finding the last element in a list
prices = [10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]

# Get the last element of a list

prices[5]

35

# Get the last element of a list

prices[-1]

35
Accessing multiple elements
prices = [10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]

# Access the second and third elements

prices[1:3]

[20, 30]

[starting_element:last_element + 1]

Add one to the last element's index because:

Python returns everything up to but not including that index
Accessing multiple elements
# Access all elements from the fourth index onwards
prices[3:]

[15, 25, 35]

# Get the first three elements

prices[:3]

[10, 20, 30]

Alternating
access
# Access every other element
prices[::2]

[10, 30, 25]

# Access every third element, starting at the second

prices[1::3]

[20, 25]
Lists cheat sheet
Syntax Functionality
a_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Create a list variable

a_list[0] Get the first element at index zero

a_list[-1] Get the last element

a_list[0:3] Get the first, second, and third elements

a_list[:3] Get the first, second, and third elements

a_list[2:] Get all elements from the third index onwards

a_list[::2] Get every other element from the first index onwards
 Dictionaries
I N T R O D U C T I O N TO P Y T H O N FO R D E V E
LO P E R S

George Boorman
Curriculum Manager, DataCamp
Products list
prices = [10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35]

# Product IDs
product_ids = ["AG32", "HT91", "PL65", "OS31", "KB07", "TR48"]
 Dictionary
Dictionary = key-value pairs

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 Why use dictionaries?
user_id
order_number

date

value

payment_method

ip_address

location

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Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict =
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32"
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32":
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32": 10
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32": 10,
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32": 10, "HT91": 20,
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32": 10, "HT91": 20,
"PL65": 30, "OS31": 15,
"KB07": 25, "TR48": 35
Creating a dictionary
# Creating a dictionary
products_dict = {"AG32": 10, "HT91": 20,
"PL65": 30, "OS31": 15,
"KB07": 25, "TR48": 35}
Accessing a value based on the key
Dictionaries are ordered
Allows values to be accessed by subsetting on the key

What is the price of product ID "AG32" ?

# Find the product's price

products_dict["AG32"]

10
Accessing all
values
# Get all values from a dictionary
products_dict.values()

dict_values([10, 20, 30, 15, 25, 35])

Accessing all
keys
# Retrieve all keys in a dictionary
products_dict.keys()

dict_keys(['AG32', 'HT91', 'PL65', 'OS31', 'KB07', 'TR48'])

Viewing an entire dictionary
# Print the dictionary
print(products_dict)

{'AG32': 10, 'HT91': 20, 'PL65': 30, 'OS31': 15, 'KB07': 25, 'TR48': 35}

# Get all items (key-value pairs)

products_dict.items()

dict_items([('AG32', 10), ('HT91', 20), ('PL65', 30), ('OS31', 15), ('KB07', 25),
('TR48', 35)])

.items() is useful when iterating or looping

Adding a key-value
pair
# Add a new key-value pair
products_dict["UI56"] = 40
Updating a
value
# Updating a value associated with an existing key
products_dict["HT91"] = 12
Duplicate
keys
# Creating a dictionary with a duplicate key
products_dict = {"AG32": 10, "AG32": 20,
"PL65": 30, "OS31": 15,
"KB07": 25, "TR48": 35}

# Print the duplicate key's value

print(products_dict["AG32"])

20
 Sets and tuples
I N T R O D U C T I O N TO P Y T H O N FO R D E V E
LO P E R S

George Boorman
Curriculum Manager, DataCamp
Sets
Contain unique data

Unchangeable*
Can add or remove values, but cannot change them

Ideal to identify and remove duplicates

Quick to search (compared to other data structures such as lists)

Creating a
set
Set = {}
: = Dictionary

No : = Set

# Create an attendee set

attendees_set = {"John Smith", "Alan Jones", "Roger Thompson",
"John Smith", "Brandon Sharp", "Sam Washington"}

print(attendees_set)

{'Alan Jones', 'Brandon Sharp', 'John Smith',

'Roger Thompson', 'Sam Washington'}
Converting to a
set
# Existing list variable
attendees_list = ["John Smith", "Alan Jones", "Roger Thompson",
"John Smith", "Brandon Sharp", "Sam Washington"]

# Convert to a set
attendees_set = set(attendees_list)

# Check the data type

type(attendees_set)

set
Converting to a
set
print(attendees_set)

{'Sam Washington', 'Roger Thompson', 'Alan Jones', 'John Smith', 'Brandon Sharp'}
Limitations of
sets
Don't have an index Can't
have duplicates

Can't subset with []

# Trying to subset a set

attendees_set[0]

TypeError: 'set' object is not subscriptable

Sorting a
set
attendees_set = {"John Smith", "Alan Jones", "Roger Thompson",
"John Smith", "Brandon Sharp", "Sam Washington"}

# Sorting a set
sorted(attendees_set)

['Alan Jones', 'Brandon Sharp', 'John Smith', 'Roger Thompson', 'Sam Washington']

sorted() returns a list

 Tuples
Immutable - cannot be changed
No adding values
No removing values

No changing values

Ordered
Can subset by index i.e., [0]

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Creating a tuple
# Creating a tuple
office_locations = ("New York City", "London", "Leuven")

# Convert another data structure to a tuple

attendees = tuple(attendees_list)
Accessing
tuples
# Access the second element
office_locations[1]

"London"
Data structures summary
Data Subset with
Syntax Immutable Allow Ordered
structur duplicate
e values
List [1, 2, 3] No Yes Yes Yes - index

Dictionary {key:value} No Yes Yes Yes - key

Set {1, 2, 3} No No No No

Tuple (1, 2, 3) Yes Yes Yes Yes - index