CS 112 Intro to Programming

Strings
Prof. Snyder Fall 2011 George Mason University

String Data Structure

The String data structure is:

A complex data type (i.e., it is comprised of sub-components or elements)

A sequence (i.e., a complex data structure that consists of sequential elements, which implies a specific ordering. Immutable (i.e., once created, cannot be modified)
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Complex Data Type

Non-complex or primitive data types consist of a singular item of data:
integer, float, boolean, etc.

Complex data types (structures) comprise zero or more sub elements:

Strings comprise zero (e.g., an empty string) or more characters.
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Sequence Data Types

Sequential data types comprise sub-elements that possess a particular ordering:

one_string = ABC
another_string = ABC These represent two distinct, unique string data.

Immutable Data Types

Immutable data types may not be modified once they are declared:
Attempting to change an element of an immutable data type

They may, however, be re-declared:

Re-declaration of a_string

Sequence Operations
(all sequences, not just strings)

Membership

Repetition

Indexing

Indexing
Accessing the 0th indexed element of a_string

Accessing the (negative) 1st element of a_string

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Indexing (Loops)
The variable i takes on the value of each successive element of the sequence during each successive iteration of the loop Limitation: can only iterate through the sequence elements in order
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Length

Number of elements in the sequence

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Indexing (Loops)

The variable i takes on the value of each successive element of the range during each successive iteration of the loop

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Indexing (Loops)

The variable i takes on the value of each successive element of the sequence during each successive iteration of the loop More robust: can iterate through the sequence elements in any manner
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Slicing

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Slicing

Strange...

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Practice what are these expressions Problem Using indexes and slices,
values?

word = "dysfunctional"
'y' 'fun' 'functional' 'unction' 'l' 'me' 'meat' 'tea' 't' 'totem'

group = "team"

word[1] word[3:6] word[3:] word[4:11] word[len(word)-1] group[-1:-4:-2] group[-1:-4:-2]+group[-2::-2] group[:3] group [-len(group)] word[-6:-3:2]+group[:2]+group[3]

Min / Max

Why?

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chr & ord Built-In Functions

ord(char): converts single character to corresponding ASCII integer value

chr(int): converts integer value to corresponding character symbol

Based on ASCII code value
American Standard Code for Information Interchange 7 binary bits 128 unique symbols

Python also supports Unicode (16-32 bits)

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ASCII Table

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Min / Max

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String Methods
Method: an action or process (defined relative to a particular object) to be performed

Dot Operator: a dot (period) that is used to access an associated variable or call an associated function
object_name.method_name
strVar = Test
Refer to Library Reference: 5.6.1

strVar.upper() would produce TEST

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String Operations vs. Methods

sequence operations:

may be built-in functions

operate on various data types example: len len(strVar)

methods: operate on a single data type string object methods (e.g., capitalize) strVar.capitalize()
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String Formatting
def main(): x = input("Enter number: ) print "counter =", x y,z = "counter = ", str(x); print y + z print "counter = " + str(x) y = "counter = " + str(x); print y print "counter = %d" % (x) y = "counter"; print "%s = %d" % (y,x) z = "%s = %d" % (y,x); print z w = " = "; z = "%s%s%d" % (y,w,x); print z main()
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Enter number: 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3 counter = 3

Tuples

(a quick introduction)

A tuple is a grouping of values, with a fixed length.

Tuples are sequences (ordered).

Tuples are immutable (can't be changed, but can be used to construct a new value).

Syntax: (comma,separated,values) BNF: tuple ::= '(' [expr [, expr]*] ')'

Examples:
(5,1,3,6) () ("Mark",True,100) (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) (x+2,z-y) (range(10),"hello")

String Formatting
(Characters that may follow a % for special meaning)

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Practice Problem
What is the resulting string? Are there any errors? "I have %d apples." % 15 'I have 15 apples.' "%d / %f = %f" % (7, 3.0, 7/3.0) / 3.000000 = 2.333333' '7 x = "%d %s"; x % (3, "amigos") amigos' '3 "%%d prints integers." % () '%d prints integers.' "I %s MadLibs" % (love) (love is not defined) "%f %d %s" % (4,4.6,"""yo""") '4.000000 4 yo' "%s %x" % (hex(200),200) '0xc8 c8' "%d centimeters is %d inches." '%d centimeters is %d inches'