escaping the leading 'b' in python

Question

I was trying to strip a string like

var/vob/bxxxxx/xxxxx/vob

I am doing it like...

'var/vob/bxxxxx/xxxxx/vob'.lstrip('/var/vob/')

I am expecting an output like ...

bxxxxx/xxxx/vob

But it is only giving...

xxxx/xxxxxx/vob

Yes I know because of the first letter is b and in python prefix b for a string stands for converting it into bytes, and I have read this too...

But what I wanted to know is how to bypass this thing.. I want to get the desired output...

I would love to say the things I have tried.. but I don't find any way around to try... can some one throw some light on this...

Thanks :)

Your sample string doesn't even begin with your `lstrip` argument, since it lacks the leading `/`. If you want to chop a fixed prefix off a string, I'd test `startswith(prefix)` and then slice, something like `test[len(prefix):]`. — Peter DeGlopper, Dec 19 '13 at 04:20
Oh, and in response to this part: "in python prefix b for a string stands for converting it into bytes" - that refers to a) only Python 3.x and b) refers to using `b` as a marker outside the quotes. In Python 3, this would be a literal for a `bytes` object: `b'foo'`, while this would be a literal for a string object: `'bfoo'`. In Python 2.x, the `u` marker serves an inverse purpose - `'foo'` is an encoded string, while `u'foo'` is a Unicode object. — Peter DeGlopper, Dec 19 '13 at 04:28

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 19 '13 at 04:14

6

You misunderstand what lstrip does. It removes all characters that are part of the parameter string. Order doesn't matter. Since b is in the string it is removed from the front of the result.

answered Dec 19 '13 at 04:14

Mark Ransom

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@PeterDeGlopper, that comment would be better left on the original question. – Mark Ransom Dec 19 '13 at 04:17
Fair enough - I thought of it as expanding your answer (which explains why the OP's attempt didn't work) by suggesting an alternate approach, but no matter. – Peter DeGlopper Dec 19 '13 at 04:20
Thanks for enlightening me :) – Sravan K Ghantasala Dec 19 '13 at 04:24

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 19 '13 at 04:17

2

What about

if s.startswith("var/vob/):
    s = s[8:]

And yes, Mark is right, lstrip removes any haracters from contained in the argument from the string.

answered Dec 19 '13 at 04:17

bigblind

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score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 24 '14 at 12:26

2

The best way to do this would be, like this

data, text = "/var/vob/bxxxxx/IT_test/vob", "/var/vob/"
if data.startswith(text): data = data[len(text):]
print data

Output

bxxxxxx/IT_test/vob

edited Feb 24 '14 at 12:26

Sravan K Ghantasala

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answered Dec 19 '13 at 04:28

thefourtheye

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escaping the leading 'b' in python

3 Answers3