Strings & text
Format, split, join, parse, and clean text — everyday Python string patterns.
Find the Index of a Substring or Return a Default in Python
Finds the index of a substring using str.find() and returns a specified default value instead of -1 when the substring is not found.
def find_substring_or_default(text, substring, default=-1):
index = text.find(substring)
return index if index != -1 else default
if __name__ == "__main__":
text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"
print(find_substring_or_default(text, "brown"))
print(find_substring_or_default(text, "c…How to Filter a List of Strings by Keyword in Python
A helper function filters a list of strings by a keyword search with optional case sensitivity.
def filter_strings(items, keyword, case_sensitive=False):
"""
Filter a list of strings by a keyword.
Args:
items: list of strings to filter
keyword: substring to search for
case_sensitive: if True, match case exactly
Returns:
list of strings containing the keyw…How to Highlight Search Terms in Python Text
Highlights all case-insensitive occurrences of a search term in a string by wrapping them in markers.
def highlight_search_term(text: str, term: str) -> str:
"""Highlight all occurrences of term in text using terminal-style markers."""
if not term:
return text
term_lower = term.lower()
result = []
i = 0
while i < len(text):
# Check if the term starts at position i (case-insens…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.