Strings

A string is a series of characters surrounded by single or double quotes. A string can be assigned to a variable just like a number can be. You can use print() to display the string:

hello = 'Hello, World!'
print(hello)

Output:

Hello, World!

If you want to use a single quote within a string (such as an apostrophe), you have two choices: (1) surround the string in double quotes, or (2) use string escaping, which means adding a backslash before the quote:

Using double quotes:

greeting = "What's up?"
print(greeting)

Output:

What's up?

Using string escaping:

greeting = 'What\'s up?'
print(greeting)

Output:

What's up?

Two or more strings can be concatenated (combined) using the + operator:

hello = "Hello"
there = "there"
greeting = hello + ' ' + there
print(greeting)

Output:

Hello there

Python’s f-strings allow you to use variables inside strings to build dynamic messages. To define an f-string simply put an f in front of the string, and add curly braces to insert variables or other expressions into the string:

name = "Bob"
greeting = f"Hello {name}"
print(greeting)

Output:

Hello Bob

Another example using integers within an f-string:

coins = 15
score = f'You currently have {coins} coins. After this level you\'ll have {coins + 10}'
print(score)

Output:

You currently have 15 coins. After this level you'll have 25

Exercises

Create and print a variable with the following string:

When I say "Knock. Knock.", you say "Who's there?"

Hint: use string escaping. There are two possible solutions.

Create two variables, one that stores your first name and one that stores your last name. Use these to create and print two new strings:
- One that greets you by name, for example: “Hello, John Doe!”
- One that prints your name as it might appear in an official record (last name, first name). For example: “Doe, John”
Hint: use f-strings
Here’s the start of a knock-knock joke:

s1 = "Knock. Knock."
s2 = "Who's there?"

Write the rest of the joke by creating three new variables: s3, s4, and s5. When creating s4, make use of s3 within an f-string (do not manually retype the words from s3 into s4).