Python - Extended String slicing: The third limit and slice objects
Introduction
Python slice expressions have support for an optional third index.
It is used as a step.
The step is added to the index of each item extracted.
The full form of a slice is X[I:J:K].
It means "extract all the items in X, from offset I through J-1, by K.
K defaults to 1.
If you specify an explicit value, however, you can use the third limit to skip items or to reverse their order.
X[1:10:2] will fetch every other item in X from offsets 1-9.
It will collect the items at offsets 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.
The first and second limits default to 0 and the length of the sequence, respectively.
X[::2] gets every other item from the beginning to the end of the sequence:
Demo
S = 'abcdefghijklmnop' print( S[1:10:2] ) # Skipping items print( S[::2] )
Result
You can use a negative stride to collect items in the opposite order.
For example, "hello"[::-1] returns the new string "olleh".
The first two bounds default to 0 and the length of the sequence.
A step of -1 indicates that the slice should go from right to left.
The effect is to reverse the sequence:
Demo
S = 'hello' print( S[::-1] ) # Reversing items
Result
With a negative stride, the meanings of the first two bounds are essentially reversed.
That is, the slice S[5:1:-1] fetches the items from 2 to 5, in reverse order.
The result contains items from offsets 5, 4, 3, and 2:
Demo
S = 'abcedfg' print( S[5:1:-1] ) # Bounds roles differ # from w w w . j a v a2 s . co m print( 'test'[1:3] ) # Slicing syntax print( 'test'[slice(1, 3)] ) # Slice objects with index syntax + object print( 'test'[::-1] ) print( 'test'[slice(None, None, -1)] )
Result
