How to remove underscores and spaces from a string effectively using Phython?

1.3K Asked by ChloeBurgess in Python , Asked on Jun 20, 2024

I am trying to strip the characters '_ ' (underscore and space) away from my string. The first code fails to strip anything. The code for word_1 works just as I intend. Could anyone enlighten me how to modify the first code to get output 'ale'?

word = 'a_ _ le' 
word.strip('_ ')
word_1 = '_ _ le'
word_1.strip('_ ')

Answered by Danilo Guidi

The possible reason for your first code might be falling to stripchar the characters '_' and ' ' from the string due to the operations. There may be a reason for assigning the modified string back to a variable. If you are facing this specific problem it looks like this:

String = “ _a_ le_”

Strong. Strip (' _ ') 

Print (string)   # output: “ _ a _le”

The “strip()” method will remove the character from the beginning and end of the string. But one thing you should remember is that it will not modify the original string in place. Therefore, to modify the original string in place you can use this:

String = “ _ a_ le _”

String = string. Script (' _ ')

Print (string).  # output:  “a _ le”

Therefore, this code will help you remove underscores from both the beginning and the end. But here is also a thing to remember it won't remove underscores within the string. If you are searching for ideas that can remove all underscores within the string, then you can follow or use the “replace()” strong method. Here is an example of it

# Original string

Strong = “ _a_ le_”

# Removing both underscores and space characters 

New_string = string. replace( '_', ' '). replace( ' ', ' ')

Print (new_ string).   # output: “ale”

Your Answer

Answer (1)

Ranjana

In Python, you can remove underscores and spaces from a string effectively using various methods. Here are a few approaches:

Method 1: Using str.replace()

The str.replace() method can be used to replace characters in a string. You can chain multiple replace() calls to remove both underscores and spaces.

  original_string = "Hello_World This is_a Test"cleaned_string = original_string.replace("_", "").replace(" ", "")print(cleaned_string)Method 2: Using str.translate()

The str.translate() method with a translation table can remove multiple characters in one go.

  <strong>original_string = "Hello_World This is_a Test"cleaned_string = original_string.translate(str.maketrans("", "", "_ "))print(cleaned_string)</strong>

Method 3: Using Regular Expressions

The re.sub() method from the re module can be used to remove characters that match a pattern. This method is powerful and flexible.

import re

  original_string = "Hello_World This is_a Test"cleaned_string = re.sub(r"[_ ]", "", original_string)print(cleaned_string)

Method 4: Using List Comprehension

You can use list comprehension to filter out unwanted characters and then join the remaining characters back into a string.

  original_string = "Hello_World This is_a Test"cleaned_string = ''.join([char for char in original_string if char not in "_ "])print(cleaned_string)Method 5: Using str.join() and str.split()

The str.split() method splits the string into a list of words based on the specified delimiters, and str.join() joins them back together.

  original_string = "Hello_World This is_a Test"cleaned_string = ''.join(original_string.split('_')).replace(" ", "")print(cleaned_string)

Choosing the Right Method

str.replace(): Simple and easy to understand for a small number of characters.
str.translate(): Efficient for removing multiple characters.
Regular Expressions: Powerful and flexible for complex patterns.
List Comprehension: Clear and Pythonic for filtering out unwanted characters.
str.join() and str.split(): Useful when dealing with delimiters in a more granular manner.
All these methods are effective; the choice depends on your specific use case and preference.

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