Strings & text
Format, split, join, parse, and clean text — everyday Python string patterns.
How to Align Text in Two Columns with ljust in Python
Format pairs of strings into two aligned columns using ljust padding.
items = [
("apple", "red"),
("banana", "yellow"),
("cherry", "dark red"),
("date", "brown")
]
col1_width = max(len(name) for name, _ in items) + 2
for name, color in items:
print(name.ljust(col1_width) + color)How to Center Text in a Fixed-Width Banner in Python
Centers any text inside a fixed-width banner using fill characters and computed padding.
def center_text_banner(text, width=40, fill_char="="):
"""Center text within a fixed-width banner."""
if len(text) >= width:
return text
total_padding = width - len(text)
left_padding = total_padding // 2
right_padding = total_padding - left_padding
banner_line = fill_char * w…How to Pad a String with Zeros in Python
Pad a string to a fixed width by left-filling it with zeros using the built-in str.zfill method.
def pad_zeros(s, width):
return s.zfill(width)
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(repr(pad_zeros("42", 6)))
print(repr(pad_zeros("-7", 5)))
print(repr(pad_zeros("hello", 10)))
print(repr(pad_zeros("123", 3)))Browse by section
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Strings & text — Python code examples
What you will find here
This page collects strings & text snippets — short, copy-ready Python you can paste into our free online IDE and run without installing anything. Each sample includes a plain-English explanation and the full source code.
Samples vs tutorials and challenges
Samples are quick reference — one concept per page. For step-by-step teaching, use our Python tutorials. To test yourself, try quizzes or coding challenges. Clean up style with the Python formatter.