CSC111 Lab 6

This lab is under construction...

More String Methods

We have already seen several of these methods. This lab is to reinforce our knowledge of strings.

The methods are all documented at this page: http://docs.python.org/lib/string-methods.html. Open this page while you working on this lab.

center()

One of the string methods is the center function. Use it to center the title "computer SCIENCE 111" between two lines of 45 dashes. Use a variable called myTitle to store the string.

        myTitle = "computer SCIENCE 111"
        print 45*"-"
        print myTitle.center( 45 )
        print 45*"-"

capitalize()

Instead of printing the variable myTitle, print myTitle.capitalize( ) and see what happens.

upper()

Use upper() instead of capitalize(). Observe the new output.

title()

Same exercise, but with the title() method. How can you make the program display the lowercase version of your title without your modifying the myTitle variable?

Programming Question

Write a program that uses functions, that asks for your name, then your last name, and prints both of them centered between two lines of 60 dashes. Make your program capitalize the first letter of each word.

Example

your first name? alexAndra
your last name?  SMITH

------------------------------------------------------------
                      Alexandra Smith                       
------------------------------------------------------------

Replacing substrings in a strings

To replace a substring of a string (or a word in a sentence), all you need to do is to use the replace() method.

   sentence = """Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate 
              bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and 
              then eat just one of the pieces"""

   print sentence
   sentence = sentence.replace( "chocolate", "carrot" )
   print sentence

Try it and replace the word "piece" by the word "chunk" in the same sentence, so that now you're breaking carrots into chunks.

Massive replacement

We are still dealing with the sentence above, but we want to replace four separate words by four new words. The words we want to replace are in this list:

  toBeReplaced = ["chocolate", "piece", "hand", "break"] 

and the replacement words are in this list:

  newWords = ["carrot", "chunk", "elbow", "melt"]

Write some python code that will use sentence and replace chocolate by carrot, then it will look for piece and replace it by chunk, hand by elbow, and break by melt. Use a for-loop!

Count()

Read the documentation on the method count() and write a program or a function that outputs the number of times the word "piece" appears in sentence using the count() method.

Splitting strings

   sentence = """Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate 
              bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and
              then eat just one of the pieces"""

   print sentence
   words = sentence.split()
   print words

Add the code above to your program. Try it.

Make your program print the number of words in the sentence (there are several ways to do that: one long, one very short).

Make your program display the first and last words of the sentence.