Replacing multiple values in a string - Python

Question

I have a string say 'I have a string' and a list ['I', 'string']. if i have to remove all the elements in the list from the given string, a proper for loop is working fine. But when I try the same with a list comprehension, it is not working as expected but returns a list.

my_string = 'I have a string'
replace_list = ['I', 'string']
for ele in replace_list:
    my_string = my_string.replace(ele, '')
# results --> ' have a '
[my_string.replace(ele, '') for ele in replace_list]
# results --> [' have a string', 'I have a ']

Is there any way to do it more efficiently?

gmds · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-24 07:38:53Z

3

Use a regex:

import re

to_replace = ['I', 'string']
regex = re.compile('|'.join(to_replace))

re.sub(regex, '', my_string)

Output:

' have a '

Alternatively, you can use reduce:

from functools import reduce

def bound_replace(string, old):
    return string.replace(old, '')

reduce(bound_replace, to_replace, my_string)

Output:

' have a '

answered Apr 24, 2019 at 7:38

gmds

20k4 gold badges37 silver badges65 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

AJS Over a year ago

alternatively you can use a lambda to replace your function reduce(lambda string,old: string.replace(old, ''),to_replace,my_string)

gmds Over a year ago

@AJS I prefer to avoid lambda functions where possible, because I find Python's syntax in that regard quite clunky.

AJS Over a year ago

yea its a matter of preference.

SanthoshSolomon Over a year ago

So there is no any function like str_replace_all() in R?

gmds Over a year ago

@SmashGuy I don't know R, but there is no inbuilt function to replace multiple arbitrary substrings. There's translate for single characters.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Replacing multiple values in a string - Python

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related