.replace()

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Anonymous contributor
Published Apr 24, 2021Updated Oct 13, 2023
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Replace a specific substring with another substring.

Syntax

string.replace(old, new, count)

The .replace() string method takes in three parameters:

  • old: The substring to search for. (Required)
  • new: The substring to replace. (Required)
  • count: A number specifying how many occurrences of the old value to replace. Default is all occurrences.

Example 1

.replace() can be called either directly on a string:

welcome = "Hello, world!".replace("world", "Codecademy")


print(welcome)
# Output: Hello, Codecademy!

Or on a variable assigned to a string:

welcome = "Hello, world!"
welcome = welcome.replace("world", "Codecademy")


print(welcome)
# Output: Hello, Codecademy!

Because replace() is a method, it returns a new string and does not modify the original string. Therefore:

var = "x"
var.replace("x", "y")
print(var)
# Output: x

By default, replace() will replace all occurrences in the string. However, you can add an integer to specify how many strings should be replaced.

var = "I like cats and cats like me"
var = var.replace("like", "LOVE")
print(var)
# Output: "I LOVE cats and cats LOVE me"


var = "I like cats and cats like me"
var = var.replace("like", "LOVE", 1)
print(var)
# Output "I LOVE cats and cats like me"

Examples

The replace() method can be used to remove sections of a string entirely:

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It can also be called multiple times on the same string:


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If there are many words that need to be removed, consider using a for loop:


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