String Session

String literals can be bounded by single or double quotes.

>>> s = 'single quoted string'
>>> s
'single quoted string'
>>> t = "double quoted string"

Don't do this.

>>> u = "unbalanced string'
  File "<stdin>", line 1
    u = "unbalanced string'
                          ^
SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal

Python features zero-based indexing. We start counting at zero.

>>> s
'single quoted string'
>>> s[1]
'i'
>>> s[2]
'n'
>>> s[0]
's'

Slice and dice. This gives us everthing before index 3 in s.

>>> s[:3]
'sin'

Now let's have variable s point at a different string and orphan the old one.

>>> s = "abcdef"

Here we show slicing again.

>>> s[:3]
'abc'

Here is everthing after index 3.

>>> s[3:]
'def'

Guess what's happening here.

>>> s[1:3]
'bc'

This is Skippy. Choosy mothers don't choose it.

>>> s[::2]
'ace'

Let us now capitalize on our good fortune.

>>> s.capitalize()
'Abcdef'
>>> s
'abcdef'

The original string does not change; Python just hands us a copy of the orginal that has been capitalized. Note that Python strings are immutable.

Now we have a variable point at our capitalized string if we want to use it later.

>>> t = s.capitalize()
>>> t
'Abcdef'

Here we orphan the original string with the capitalized one.

>>> s = s.capitalize()
>>> s
'Abcdef'

Now put it back.

>>> s = "abcdef"