❮ Python Glossary
String Concatenation
String concatenation means add strings together.
Use the +
character to add a variable to another variable:
Example
x = "Python is "
y = "awesome"
z = x + y
print[z]
Try it Yourself »
Example
Merge variable a
with variable b
into variable c
:
a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + b
print[c]
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Example
To add a space between them, add a " "
:
a = "Hello"
b = "World"
c = a + " " + b
print[c]
Try it Yourself »
For numbers, the +
character works as a mathematical operator:
Example
x = 5
y = 10
print[x + y]
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If you try to combine a string and a number, Python will give you an error:
Example
x = 5
y = "John"
print[x + y]
Try it Yourself »
Related Pages
Python Variables Tutorial Creating Variables Variable Names Assign Value to Multiple Variables Output Variables Global Variables
❮ Python Glossary
When you're learning a programming language, you're likely to come across a data type called a string. A string usually contains a series of characters nested in quotation marks that can be represented as a text.
In this article, we will talk about string concatenation in Python. This is the process of joining/adding one string to another. For example, the concatenation of "freeCode" and "Camp" is "freeCodeCamp".
String concatenation is important when working with two or more separate variables [strings] that are combined to form a much larger string.
This also enables you have separate units of a string even after combining them, just in case you need to use one string variable somewhere else in your code and not the entire string.
To concatenate string in Python, we use the +
operator to append the strings to each other. Here is an example:
x = "Happy"
y = "Coding"
z = x + y
print[z]
#HappyCoding
In the code above, we created two variables [x
and y
] both containing
strings – "Happy" and "Coding" – and a third variable [z
] which combines the two variables we created initially.
We were able to combine the two variables by using the +
operator. Our output after this was HappyCoding
. If you were to reverse the order during concatenation by doing this: z = y + x
then we would get CodingHappy
printed to the console.
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How to Add Spaces Between Concatenated Strings
You might notice that there was no space between the variables when printed. Here's how we can add spaces between concatenated strings:
x = "Happy"
y = "Coding"
z = x + " " + y
print[z]
# Happy Coding
You'll notice that there is a space between the quotation marks. If you omit the space then the strings will still be closely joined together.
You can also add spaces at the end of a string when it is created and it will be applied when printed. Here's how you'd do that:
x = "Happy "
y = "Coding"
z = x + y
print[z]
#Happy Coding
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How to Create Multiple Copies of a String
Using the *
Operator
When we use the *
operator on a string, depending on value passed, we create and concatenate [append] copies of the string. Here is an example:
x = "Happy"
y = x * 3
print[y]
# HappyHappyHappy
Using the *
operator, we duplicated the value of the string "Happy" three times with the three printed values closely packed together.
If we were to add a space at the end of the string, then the strings will be separated. That is:
x = "Happy "
y = x * 3
print[y]
# Happy Happy Happy
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Conclusion
In this article, we learned how to combine strings in Python through concatenation.
Thank you for reading and happy coding!
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Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn various ways to concatenate strings in Python.
Python provides you with various ways to concatenate one or more strings into a new string.
Since Python string is immutable, the concatenation always results in a new string.
1] Concatenating literal strings
To concatenate two or more literal strings, you just need to place them next to each other. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s = 'String' ' Concatenation' print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
String Concatenation
Note that this way won’t work for the string variables.
2] Concatenating strings using the + operator
A straightforward way to concatenate multiple strings into one is to use the + operator:
Code language: PHP [php]
s = 'String' + ' Concatenation' print[s]
And the + operator works for both literal strings and string variables. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1 = 'String' s2 = s1 + ' Concatenation' print[s2]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
String Concatenation
3] Concatenating strings using the += operator
Similar to the + operator, you can use the += operator to concatenate multiple strings into one:
Code language: PHP [php]
s = 'String' s += ' Concatenation' print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
String Concatenation
4] Concatenating strings using the join[] method
The join[]
method allows you to concatenate a list of strings into a single string:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1 = 'String' s2 = 'Concatenation' s3 = ''.join[[s1, s2]] print[s3]
Output:
StringConcatenation
The join[]
method also allows you to specify a delimiter when
concatenating strings. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1 = 'String' s2 = 'Concatenation' s3 = ' '.join[[s1, s2]] print[s3]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
String Concatenation
In this example, we use the join[]
method to concatenate strings delimited by a space.
The following example use the join[]
method to concatenate strings delimited by a comma:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation' s = ','.join[[s1, s2, s3]] print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
Python,String,Concatenation
5] Concatenating strings using the %-formatting
String objects have the built-in % operator that allows you to format strings. Also, you can use it to concatenate strings. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation' s = '%s %s %s' % [s1, s2, s3] print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
Python String Concatenation
In this example, Python substitutes a %s
in the literal string by corresponding string variable in the tuple that follows the %
operator.
6] Concatenating strings using the format[] method
You can use the format[]
method to concatenate multiple strings into a string. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation' s = '{} {} {}'.format[s1, s2, s3] print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
Python String Concatenation
In this example, you use the {}
in the string literal and pass the string that you want to concatenate to the format[]
method. The format[]
method substitutes the {}
by the corresponding string argument.
7] Concatenating strings using f-strings
Python 3.6 introduced the f-strings that allow you to format strings in a more concise and elegant way.
And you can use the f-strings to concatenate multiple strings into one. For example:
Code language: PHP [php]
s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation' s = f'{s1} {s2} {s3}' print[s]
Output:
Code language: JavaScript [javascript]
Python String Concatenation
Which method should you use to concatenate strings
Even though there’re multiple ways to concatenate strings in Python, it’s recommended
to use the join[]
method, the +
operator, and f-strings to concatenate strings.
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