Skip to main content

Python String Replace Tutorial

Learn to find and replace strings using regular expressions in Python.
Jun 2020  · 2 min read

Sometimes you will want to replace occurrences of a substring with a new string, and Python has a built-in method .replace() to achieve it.

Python provides you with the .replace() string method that returns a copy of the string with all the occurrences of old substring replaced with the new substring given as a parameter.

string replace

Arguments

It takes three arguments: the substring to replace, the new string to replace it, and an optional number that indicates how many occurrences to replace.

  • old − This is the old substring to be replaced.

  • new − This is the new substring, which would replace the old substring.

  • count − If this optional argument count is given, only the first count occurrences are replaced.

Example of String Replace

In the example code below, you will replace the substring house with car. The method will return a copy with all the house substrings replaced.

example 1

Example of String Replace with the Count Optional Argument

In this second example, you specify that you only want two of the occurrences to be replaced. In the below output, you can see that the method returns the string's copy with the first two occurrences of house replaced by car.

example 2

Example

Here you will replace the substring isn't for the word is. Then, replace the substring important for the word insignificant, and finally, print out the result contained in the variable movies_antonym.

replace substring

When we run the above code, it produces the following result:

the rest of the story is insignificant because all it does is serve as a mere backdrop for the two stars to share the screen .

Try it for yourself.

To learn more about Python String Replace, please see this video from our course, Regular Expressions in Python.

This content is taken from DataCamp’s Regular Expressions in Python course by Maria Eugenia Inzaugarat.

Check out our Python String Tutorial.

Learn more about Python

Regular Expressions in Python

Beginner
4 hr
31.1K
Learn about string manipulation and become a master at using regular expressions.
See DetailsRight Arrow
Start Course
See MoreRight Arrow
Related

Precision-Recall Curve in Python Tutorial

Learn how to implement and interpret precision-recall curves in Python and discover how to choose the right threshold to meet your objective.
Vidhi Chugh's photo

Vidhi Chugh

14 min

An Introduction to Hierarchical Clustering in Python

Understand the ins and outs of hierarchical clustering and its implementation in Python
Zoumana Keita 's photo

Zoumana Keita

17 min

Association Rule Mining in Python Tutorial

Uncovering Hidden Patterns in Python with Association Rule Mining
Moez Ali's photo

Moez Ali

14 min

An Introduction to Python Subprocess: Basics and Examples

Explore our step-by-step guide to running external commands using Python's subprocess module, complete with examples.
Moez Ali's photo

Moez Ali

15 min

Setting Up VSCode For Python: A Complete Guide

Experience a simple, fun, and productive way of Python development by learning about VSCode and its extensionsn and features.
Abid Ali Awan's photo

Abid Ali Awan

16 min

GeoPandas Tutorial: An Introduction to Geospatial Analysis

Get started with GeoPandas, one of the most popular Python libraries for geospatial analysis.
Javier Canales Luna's photo

Javier Canales Luna

15 min

See MoreSee More