Python Reverse a String

Last modified on: October 19, 2024

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<h2 class="relative p-1 rounded-sm flex items-center justify-center bg-token-main-surface-primary text-token-text-primary h-8 w-8">How to Reverse a String in Python</h2>
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<p>Reversing a string is a common operation that can be achieved in several ways in Python. Python provides multiple techniques to reverse strings, ranging from simple slicing to using built-in functions and loops. Below are some of the most popular methods.</p>
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<h3>Method 1: Using String Slicing</h3>
<p>Python allows slicing of sequences like strings. The simplest way to reverse a string is by using the slicing technique.</p>
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<pre class="language-python"><code># Original string
my_string = "hello"

# Reverse the string using slicing
reversed_string = my_string[::-1]

print(reversed_string)  # Output: "olleh"
</code></pre>
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<h3>Method 2: Using the <code>reversed()</code> Function</h3>
<p>The <code>reversed()</code> function returns an iterator that accesses the string characters in reverse order. You can then join the characters back into a string.</p>
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<pre class="language-python"><code># Original string
my_string = "hello"

# Reverse the string using reversed() and join()
reversed_string = ''.join(reversed(my_string))

print(reversed_string)  # Output: "olleh"
</code></pre>
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<h3>Method 3: Using a <code>for</code> Loop</h3>
<p>You can reverse a string manually by iterating over it and appending each character to a new string.</p>
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<pre class="language-python"><code># Original string
my_string = "hello"

# Initialize an empty string for the result
reversed_string = ""

# Reverse the string using a for loop
for char in my_string:
    reversed_string = char + reversed_string

print(reversed_string)  # Output: "olleh"
</code></pre>
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<h3>Method 4: Using <code>list()</code> and <code>reverse()</code></h3>
<p>Convert the string to a list, reverse the list using the <code>reverse()</code> method, and then join it back into a string.</p>
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<pre class="language-python"><code># Original string
my_string = "hello"

# Convert the string to a list of characters
char_list = list(my_string)

# Reverse the list of characters
char_list.reverse()

# Join the list back into a string
reversed_string = ''.join(char_list)

print(reversed_string)  # Output: "olleh"
</code></pre>
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<h3>Method 5: Using Recursion</h3>
<p>A more advanced approach is to reverse the string using recursion.</p>
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<pre class="language-python"><code># Function to reverse a string using recursion
def reverse_string(s):
    if len(s) == 0:
        return s
    else:
        return reverse_string(s[1:]) + s[0]

# Original string
my_string = "hello"

# Reverse the string using recursion
reversed_string = reverse_string(my_string)

print(reversed_string)  # Output: "olleh"
</code></pre>
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<h3>Summary</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Slicing</strong> is the simplest and most Pythonic way to reverse a string.</li>
<li><strong><code>reversed()</code></strong> with <code>join()</code> is another efficient and readable method.</li>
<li><strong>Using a <code>for</code> loop</strong> or <strong>recursion</strong> provides more control over the process but may be less efficient for large strings.</li>
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<h3>&nbsp;</h3>
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