How To Reverse a String in Python

Spread the love

Sometimes you may need to reverse a string. How to do it in Python?

To reverse a string all we need is the slice operator with the step set to -1. Have a look:

>>> text = "I like music."
>>> rtext = text[::-1]
>>> rtext
'.cisum ekil I'

Learn how to make beautiful GUI apps

in Python using the Kivy framework.

Comprehensive, for Kivy beginners, easy to follow.

Get the book here (PDF) or on Amazon:

ebook / paperback (black and white) / paperback (full color)

Let’s write a function that tests if a string is a palindrome. It is if it reads the same in both directions, like “gig” or “kayak”. You can neglect capitalization and white spaces:

def is_palindrome(text):
    text_lowercase = text.lower() # set all characters to lowercase
    text_no_spaces = "".join(text_lowercase.split()) # remove spaces
    if text_no_spaces == text_no_spaces[::-1]:
        print(f"'{text}' is a palindrome.")
    else:
        print(f"'{text}' is not a palindrome.")
    
is_palindrome("hello")
is_palindrome("A Santa at Nasa")

Output:

'hello' is not a palindrome.
'A Santa at Nasa' is a palindrome.

As you can see, there’s no magic involved. If you want to play with this function a bit more, here are some palindromes that you can test. They should all give you a positive result:

deed, radar, level, civic, racecar

I’m sure you can come up with some more of your own.