How to Interleave two strings in Python when their lengths are not equal?

Question

I know a way to interleave two strings using Python but it works only if their lengths are equal:

u = 'Abcd'
l = 'Wxyz'
res = "".join(i + j for i, j in zip(u, l))
print(res)

This will give me the correct Output:AWbxcydz But if the strings are u = 'Utkarsh' and l = 'Jain', the same method does not give the correct answer. Can someone suggest a way to do so?

The output in this case should be: 'UJtakianrsh' but my method gives the output as: 'UJtakian' — Coder_Uj, Mar 14 '19 at 09:48
Don't arbitrarily tag **both** `python-3.x` and `python-2.7`. It doesn't add any information to your question. — khelwood, Mar 14 '19 at 09:50

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 14 '19 at 09:50

7

Use zip_longest from itertools.

from itertools import zip_longest

u = 'Abcdefgh'
l = 'Wxyz'
res = "".join(i + j for i, j in zip_longest(u, l, fillvalue=''))
print(res)

answered Mar 14 '19 at 09:50

Andrew Guy

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Note that since OP has unhelpfully tagged their question with both 2.7 and 3.x, in 2.7 this method is called `izip_longest`. – Daniel Roseman Mar 14 '19 at 09:50
Thanks it works..:) – Coder_Uj Mar 14 '19 at 10:31

How to Interleave two strings in Python when their lengths are not equal?

1 Answers1