Python String: obtaining what's left after python string slice

Question

This substring related question appears to never mention another potential goal when slicing strings: obtaining what's left after a slice.

Is there a way to get what's left over when performing a slice operation without two separate steps where you join what's left over?

This would be brute force way, but it uses two slice operations and a join.

myString = "how now brown trow?"  
myString[:4] + myString[-5:]  
>>> 'how trow?'

Can this be done using the slicing notation without making two slices and joining them together?

Your example does not seem to demonstrate obtaining what's left after a slice. — wwii
– wwii, Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 19:44

BrenBarn · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 19:44:47Z

2

No. You can't get non-contiguous pieces with a single slice operation.

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 19:44

BrenBarn

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3 Comments

horta Over a year ago

I was hoping since the index was contiguous forward and backwards, that the slice would still be classified as contiguous through the wrap-around.

BrenBarn Over a year ago

@horta: No, you can't get slices that are only contiguous through wraparound. You can slice forward or backward, but not both in the same slice.

user1726343 Over a year ago

@horta This is also not just pure rotation of the string, because you actually want "how trow?", and not "trow?how", which is what you would get from reading it with wrap around (which can be accomplished with a comprehension).

Padraic Cunningham · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-12 19:47:21Z

2

If the slice is unique that you want to remove you could str.replace:

myString = "how now brown trow?"
s = myString.replace(myString[4:-5],"")
print(s)
how trow?

answered Mar 12, 2015 at 19:47

Padraic Cunningham

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4 Comments

horta Over a year ago

Nice workaround. When working with future data that could be unknown, it wouldn't be safe to assume that it will be unique unfortunately.

Padraic Cunningham Over a year ago

@horta, yep it is limited but about as close as you will get to a single step

BrenBarn Over a year ago

Note this is still two separate steps, it's just a different two steps than in the example in the question.

Padraic Cunningham Over a year ago

@BrenBarn, yes and it is limited but about as close as the OP is going to get to what they want to do

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