Working with Strings — Text in Python

What Is a String?

A string (str) is Python's way of handling text. Anything inside quotes — single or double — is treated as a string. Strings can store names, sentences, entire paragraphs, or even emojis.

Syntax — Creating Strings

name = "Alice"        # Double quotes
greeting = 'Hello'    # Single quotes (works the same!)
empty = ""            # Empty string
quote = "She said, "Hi!""  # Quotes inside quotes

How It Works — String Operations

Concatenation (Joining)

Use + to join strings together — this is called concatenation:

first = "John"
last = "Doe"
full = first + " " + last  # Add a space in between!
print(full)  # John Doe

String Methods

Strings come with built-in methods — actions you can perform on them:

message = "Hello, World!"

print(message.upper())       # HELLO, WORLD!
print(message.lower())       # hello, world!
print(message.title())       # Hello, World!
print(len(message))          # 13 (counts characters including spaces)
print(message.replace("World", "Python"))  # Hello, Python!

f-Strings (Modern Formatting)

The cleanest way to combine text and variables — use an f before the quotes and put variables in {}:

name = "Alice"
age = 25
print(f"My name is {name} and I am {age} years old.")
# Output: My name is Alice and I am 25 years old.

Why Use Strings?

Strings are everywhere in programming:

Common Mistakes

Your Turn!

Create a variable called city with your favorite city name. Then: