Useful string methods

Strings have methods for common text tasks. strip() removes whitespace at both ends, lower() returns lowercase text, and split() separates text into a list. These methods return new values; they do not change the original string.

raw = "  Python, SQL, Excel  "
clean = raw.strip()
topics = clean.split(", ")
print(clean)
print(topics)
print(raw)

Python, SQL, Excel
['Python', 'SQL', 'Excel']
  Python, SQL, Excel  

Join and normalise

join() combines a sequence of strings using a separator. lower() can make case-insensitive comparisons when both sides are converted.

topics = ["Python", "SQL"]
print(" | ".join(topics))
print("PYTHON".lower() == "python")

Python | SQL
True

Why this works

A string method returns a result based on the original text. strip() removes whitespace only at the ends, so spaces within "Python, SQL" remain. split(", ") uses that exact separator, and join() performs the opposite kind of operation by combining separate strings.

Practice

Start with " loops, files ". Remove outer spaces, split it into two topics, and join the topics with " / ".

Try another case

What does " A, B ".strip().split(", ") produce?