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Python comes with some built-in functions for working with strings. One of the most commonly used of these functions is len(). len() returns the number of characters in a string:

favorite_fruit = "blueberry" length = len(favorite_fruit) print(length) # Output: 9

If you are taking the length of a sentence the spaces are counted as well.

fruit_sentence = "I love blueberries" print(len(fruit_sentence)) # Output: 18

len() comes in handy when we are trying to select characters from the end of a string. What is the index of the last character,"y", of favorite_fruit from above? You can try to run the following code:

last_char = favorite_fruit[len(favorite_fruit)] print(last_char)

This will result in:

IndexError: string index out of range

Why does this generate an IndexError? Because the indices start at 0, so the final character in favorite_fruit has an index of 8. len(favorite_fruit) returns 9 and, because there is no value at that index, an IndexError occurs.

Instead, the last character in a string has an index that is len(string_name) - 1.

last_char = favorite_fruit[len(favorite_fruit)-1] print(last_char) # Output: y

You could also slice the last several characters of a string using len():

length = len(favorite_fruit) last_chars = favorite_fruit[length-4:] print(last_chars) # Output: erry

Using a len() statement as the starting index and omitting the final index lets you slice n characters from the end of a string, where n is the amount you subtract from len().

Instructions

1.

Copeland’s Corporate Company also wants to update how they generate temporary passwords for new employees.

Write a function called password_generator() that takes two inputs, first_name and last_name, and then concatenates the last three letters of each and returns them as a string.

2.

Test your function on the provided first_name and last_name and save it to the variable temp_password.

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