Chapter 3: Python Data Types
1. Built-in Data Types
Python has the following data types built-in by default, in these categories:
Text Type: str
Numeric Types: int, float
Sequence Types: list, tuple, range
Mapping Type: dict
Set Types: set, frozenset
Boolean Type: bool
Binary Types: bytes, bytearray
None Type: NoneType
Getting the Data Type
You can get the data type of any object by using the type() function:
x = 5
print(type(x))
2. Python Numbers
Variables of numeric types are created when you assign a value to them:
x = 1 # int
y = 2.8 # float
Int (integer) is a whole number, positive or negative, without decimals, of
unlimited length.
x = 1
y = 35656222554887711
z = -3255522
Float is a number, positive or negative, containing one or more decimals.
x = 1.10
y = 1.0
z = -35.59
9
Float can also be scientific numbers with an “e” to indicate the power of 10.
x = 35e3
y = 12E4
z = -87.7e100
Type Conversion
You can convert with the int(), float() methods:
x = 1 # int
y = 2.8 # float
#convert from int to float:
a = float(x)
#convert from float to int:
b = int(y)
print(type(a))
print(type(b))
Random Number
Python does not have a random() function to make a random number, but
Python has a built-in module called random that can be used to make
random numbers:
import random
print([Link](1, 10))
3. Strings
Strings in python are surrounded by either single quotation marks, or
double quotation marks.
'hello' is the same as ”hello”.
print(“Hello”)
print('Hello')
Assign String to a Variable
a = ”Hello”
print(a)
10
Multiline Strings
You can assign a multiline string to a variable by using three quotes:
a = ”““Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.”““
print(a)
Or three single quotes:
a = '''Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
consectetur adipiscing elit,
sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt
ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.'''
print(a)
Note: in the result, the line breaks are inserted at the same position as in
the code.
Strings are Arrays
Strings in Python are arrays of characters (as unicode bytes). Python does
not have a “char” data type, a single character is simply a string with a
length of 1. The first character has the position 0:
Square brackets can be used to access elements of the string.
a = ”Hello, World!”
print(a[1])
Looping Through a String
Since strings are arrays, we can loop through the characters in a string,
with a for loop.
for x in ”banana”:
print(x)
String Length
To get the length of a string, use the len() function.
a = ”Hello, World!”
print(len(a))
11
Check String
To check if a certain phrase or character is present in a string, we can use
the keyword in.
print(“free” in ”The best things in life are free!”) #true
Use it in an if statement:
txt = ”The best things in life are free!”
x = ”free”
if x in txt:
print(“Yes, it is present.”)
Check if NOT
To check if a certain phrase or character is NOT present in a string, we can
use the keyword not in.
txt = ”The best things in life are free!”
print(“expensive” not in txt)
Use it in an if statement:
txt = ”The best things in life are free!”
if ”expensive” not in txt:
print(“No, 'expensive' is NOT present.”)
Slicing
You can return a range of characters by using the slice syntax. Specify the
start index and the end index to return a part of the string.
#Get the characters from position 2(included) to position 5 (not included):
b = ”Hello, World!”
print(b[2:5])
Slice From the Start
By leaving out the start index, the range will start at the first character:
#Get the characters from the start to position 5 (not included):
b = ”Hello, World!”
print(b[:5])
12
Slice To the End
By leaving out the end index, the range will go to the end:
b = ”Hello, World!”
print(b[2:])
Negative Indexing
Use negative indexes to start the slice from the end of the string (begin
from write to left with index 1):
# Get the characters: From: “o” in “World!” (position -5)
# To, but not included: “d” in “World!” (position -2):
b = ”Hello, World!”
print(b[-5:-2])
Upper Case and Lower Case
a = ”Hello, World!”
print([Link]())
print([Link]())
Remove Whitespace
Whitespace is the space before and/or after the actual text, and very often
you want to remove this space.
a = ” Hello, World! “
print([Link]()) # returns “Hello, World!”
Replace String
a = ”Hello, World!”
print([Link](“H”, ”J”))
Split String
The split() method returns a list where the text between the specified
separator becomes the list items.
a = ”Hello, World!”
print([Link](“,”)) # returns ['Hello', ' World!']
13
String Concatenation
To concatenate, or combine, two strings you can use the + operator.
a = ”Hello”
b = ”World”
c = a + b
d = a + ” “ + b
print(c)
print(d)
String Format
We cannot combine strings and numbers like this:
age = 21
print(”My name is Jo, I am “ + age) # error
But we can combine strings and numbers by using the format() method.
age = 21
txt = ”My name is Jo, and I am {}”
print([Link](age))
The format() method takes unlimited number of arguments, and are
placed into the respective placeholders:
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
myorder = ”I want {} pieces of item {} for {} dollars.”
print([Link](quantity, itemno, price))
You can use index numbers {0} to be sure the arguments are placed in
the correct placeholders:
quantity = 3
itemno = 567
price = 49.95
order = ”Want to pay {2} dollars for {0} pieces of item {1}.”
print([Link](quantity, itemno, price))
14
4. Booleans
When you compare two values, the expression is evaluated and Python
returns the Boolean answer True or False:
print(10 > 9)
print(10 == 9)
print(10 < 9)
We can run a condition using an if statement:
a = 200
b = 33
if b > a:
print(“b is greater than a”)
else:
print(“b is not greater than a”)
Most Values are True
Any string is True, except empty strings.
Any number is True, except 0.
Any list, tuple, set, and dictionary are True, except empty ones.
# The following will return True:
bool(“abc”)
bool(123)
bool([“apple”, ”cherry”, ”banana”])
Functions can return Boolean
You can create functions that returns a Boolean Value:
def isTrue() :
return True
print(isTrue())
You can execute code based on the Boolean answer of a function:
def isTrue() :
return True
if isTrue():
print(“YES!”)
else:
print(“NO!”)
15
