How do you use .replace with a 'long string' (""") in Python?

Question

I have a long string which opens and closes with 3 double quotes ("""). When I use the .replace function on it, it doesn't work (nor does it return an error or anything). It appears to run the code and then when I print the updated string, it hasn't actually changed.

surnames="""
Smith    
Jones    
Taylor
"""

Say I wanted to replace the uppercase 'S' in 'Smith' with an 'A' for example:

surnames.replace("S", "A")

It doesn't work! Is it even possible to do these operations on long strings in Python?

It does work, it just doesn't work _in place_. Try assigning the output of `surnames.replace("S", "A")` to a new variable. — , Nov 09 '17 at 00:59

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 09 '17 at 01:01

2

The way you write your string literal doesn't matter. A str is str, "long strings" is not a thing in Python.

Where your code goes wrong, is the fact that a str is immutable and that the replace method returns a new string with the result of the replace operation. So you have to write:

surnames = surnames.replace("S", "A")

if you want to make surnames contain the new string.

answered Nov 09 '17 at 01:01

Irmen de Jong

2,739
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Yeah got it now, thanks! – Michael Knapman Nov 09 '17 at 01:18

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 09 '17 at 01:01

0

The program:

s = "SMMMM" \
    "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

print(s.replace("S", "A"))
print(s)

The Output:

AMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
SMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

answered Nov 09 '17 at 01:01

youDaily

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How do you use .replace with a 'long string' (""") in Python?

2 Answers2