Removing specific characters with strip
byu/DigitalSplendid inlearnpython

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Python’s strip() and split() methods with examples

Source: Created with the help of ChatGPT

The strip() and split() methods in Python are string manipulation functions often used to clean and process textual data.

1. strip()

The strip() method removes any leading (spaces at the beginning) and trailing (spaces at the end) characters (by default, whitespace characters) from a string. It does not remove spaces inside the string.

Syntax:

string.strip([chars])

• chars (optional): Specifies the set of characters to be removed. If omitted, the method will remove whitespace by default.

Example:

# Example 1: Using strip with default whitespace removal
text = " Hello, World! "
stripped_text = text.strip()
print(stripped_text) # Output: "Hello, World!"

# Example 2: Removing specific characters
text = "///Python///"
stripped_text = text.strip("/")
print(stripped_text) # Output: "Python"

2. split()

The split() method breaks a string into a list of substrings based on a specified separator. If no separator is specified, it defaults to splitting at any whitespace (spaces, tabs, or newlines).

Syntax:

string.split([separator, maxsplit])

• separator (optional): The delimiter string where the split occurs. If omitted, any whitespace is considered a separator.
• maxsplit (optional): The maximum number of splits to do. The default is -1, which means “all occurrences.”

Example:

# Example 1: Splitting a string with default separator (whitespace)
text = "Hello, World!"
split_text = text.split()
print(split_text) # Output: ['Hello,', 'World!']

# Example 2: Splitting a string with a specified separator
text = "apple,banana,orange"
split_text = text.split(',')
print(split_text) # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange']

# Example 3: Limiting the number of splits
text = "apple,banana,orange,grape"
split_text = text.split(',', 2)
print(split_text) # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange,grape']

Combined Example:

You can combine both strip() and split() to clean and process data more effectively:

text = " apple, banana, orange "
cleaned_text = text.strip().split(", ")
print(cleaned_text) # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange']

Here, strip() removes leading and trailing spaces, and split() divides the string into a list of fruits based on the separator ", ".