Lessons · Python · how long is this text

How long is this text

len(s) counts the characters in a string, spaces and punctuation included.

Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.

What it is for

Passwords that must be eight characters, posts that must fit, a column that must not overflow: length checks are everywhere, and len is the whole check.

How to think about it

Count characters, not words: every letter, digit, space and symbol is one. If you want words, split first and count the pieces.

Worked example

word = "python"

Six characters.

print(len(word))

print(len("a b"))

3: the space counts.

print(len(""))

0: the empty string has no characters.

print(len("hi there".split()))

2: words, because split made a list of two.

Your turn

Refuse a name shorter than three characters.

too_short = (name) < 3

The trap

len counts characters, not bytes: 'é' is one character but may be two bytes. Length is about what a person sees.

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