Add spaces to Beginning, End or between chars in Python

# Table of Contents

1. Add spaces to the end of a String in Python
2. Add spaces to the beginning of a String in Python
3. Add space between variables in Python
4. Add spaces between the characters of a string in Python

# Add spaces to the end of a String in Python

Use the str.ljust() method to add spaces to the end of a string, e.g. result = my_str.ljust(6, ' ').

The ljust method takes the total width of the string and a fill character and pads the end of the string to the specified width with the provided fill character.

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my_str = 'abc'

result_1 = my_str.ljust(6, ' ')
print(repr(result_1))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

result_2 = my_str + " " * 3
print(repr(result_2))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

result_3 = f'{my_str: <6}'
print(repr(result_3))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

The first example in the code sample uses the str.ljust (left justify) method.

The str.ljust() method takes the following 2 arguments:

# Adding spaces to the end of a string with the multiplication operator

An alternative solution is to use the multiplication operator to add a specific number of spaces to the end of the string.

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my_str = 'abc'

result = my_str + " " * 3
print(repr(result))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

When a character is multiplied, it gets repeated the specified number of times.

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print(repr(' ' * 3))  # 👉️ '   '

print('a' * 3)  # 👉️ 'aaa'

# Adding spaces to the end of a string with a formatted string literal

You can also use the format string syntax to add spaces to the end of a string.

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my_str = 'abc'

result = f'{my_str: <6}'
print(repr(result))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

This is a bit harder to read, but we basically fill the string to a length of 6 characters aligning it to the left.

If you have the total length of the string stored in a variable, use curly braces.

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my_str = 'abc'

width = 6

result_3 = f'{my_str: <{width}}'
print(repr(result_3))  # 👉️ 'abc   '

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

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my_str = 'is subscribed:'

my_bool = True

result = f'{my_str} {my_bool}'

print(result)  # 👉️ is subscribed: True

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

# Table of Contents

1. Add spaces to the beginning of a String in Python
2. Add space between variables in Python
3. Add spaces between the characters of a string in Python

# Add spaces to the beginning of a String in Python

Use the str.rjust() method to add spaces to the beginning of a string.

The rjust method takes the total width of the string and a fill character and pads the beginning of the string to the specified width with the provided fill character.

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my_str = 'abc'

result_1 = my_str.rjust(6, ' ')
print(repr(result_1))  # 👉️ '   abc'

result_2 = " " * 3 + my_str
print(repr(result_2))  # 👉️ '   abc'

result_3 = f'{my_str: >6}'
print(repr(result_3))  # 👉️ '   abc'

The first example in the code sample uses the str.rjust (right justify) method.

The str.rjust() method takes the following 2 arguments:

# Add spaces to the beginning of a String using the multiplication operator

An alternative solution is to use the multiplication operator to add a specific number of spaces to the beginning of the string.

Copied!
my_str = 'abc'

result_2 = " " * 3 + my_str
print(repr(result_2))  # 👉️ '   abc'

When a character is multiplied, it gets repeated the specified number of times.

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print(repr(' ' * 3))  # 👉️ '   '

print('b' * 3)  # 👉️ 'bbb'

# Add spaces to the beginning of a String using an f-string

You can also use the format string syntax to add spaces to the beginning of a string.

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my_str = 'abc'

result_3 = f'{my_str: >6}'
print(repr(result_3))  # 👉️ '   abc'

This is a bit harder to read, but we basically fill the string to a length of 6 characters aligning it to the right.

If you have the total length of the string stored in a variable, use curly braces.

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width = 6

result_3 = f'{my_str: >{width}}'
print(repr(result_3))  # 👉️ '   abc'

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

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my_str = 'is subscribed:'

my_bool = True

result = f'{my_str} {my_bool}'

print(result)  # 👉️ is subscribed: True

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

# Table of Contents

1. Add space between variables in Python
2. Add spaces between the characters of a string in Python

# Add space between variables in Python

You can also use a formatted string literal to add a space between variables.

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var_1 = 'hello'
var_2 = 123

result = f'{var_1} {var_2}'
print(result) # 👉️ hello 123

Formatted string literals (f-strings) let us include expressions inside of a string by prefixing the string with f.

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my_str = 'is subscribed:'

my_bool = True

result = f'{my_str} {my_bool}'

print(result)  # 👉️ is subscribed: True

Make sure to wrap expressions in curly braces - {expression}.

You can use this approach to add space between as many variables as necessary.

A formatted string literal can be used to add a space between two strings or two values of different types.

Alternatively, you can use the str.join() method to add space between variables.

# Add space between variables using str.join()

This is a two-step process:

1. Wrap the variables in a list.
2. Use the str.join() method to join the list with a space separator.

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var_1 = 'hello'

var_2 = 123

result_2 = ' '.join(map(str, [var_1, var_2]))
print(result_2)  # 👉️ hello 123

The str.join() method takes an iterable as an argument and returns a string which is the concatenation of the strings in the iterable.

If your list of variables contains numbers or other types, convert all of the values to strings before calling join().

The map() function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and calls the function with each item of the iterable.

We used the map() function to convert the integer stored in var_2 to a string but this isn't necessary if you are only joining strings.

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var_1 = 'hello'

var_2 = 'world'

result_2 = ' '.join([var_1, var_2])
print(result_2)  # 👉️ hello world

The code sample adds a space between the two strings.

# Add space between variables using str.format()

Alternatively, you can use the str.format() method.

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var_1 = 'hello'

var_2 = 123

result = '{} {}'.format(var_1, var_2)

print(result) # 👉️ 'hello 123'

The str.format() method performs string formatting operations.

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first = 'James'

last = 'Doe'

result = "His name is {} {}".format(first, last)

print(result)  # 👉️ "His name is James Doe"

The string the method is called on can contain replacement fields specified using curly braces {}.

# Add space between variables using the addition (+) operator

You can also use the addition (+) operator to add a space between two variables, but make sure they are of compatible types.

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var_1 = 'hello'

var_2 = 123

result = var_1 + ' ' + str(var_2)

print(result) # 👉️ 'hello 123'

When using the addition (+) operator, make sure the values on the left and right-hand sides are strings.

If you need to add multiple spaces between variables, use the multiplication operator to make your code more readable.

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var_1 = 'hello'

var_2 = 123

result = var_1 + ' ' * 3 + str(var_2)

print(repr(result))  # 👉️ 'hello   123'

The multiplication operator can be used to repeat a string a specified number of times.

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print(repr(' ' * 3)) # 👉️ '   '

print(repr('a' * 3)) # 👉️ 'aaa'

Formatted string literals take care of automatically converting the values to strings, so we don't have to explicitly use the str() class in the values are of different types.

# Add spaces between the characters of a string in Python

To add spaces between the characters of a string:

1. Call the join() method on a string containing a space.
2. Pass the string as an argument to the join method.
3. The method will return a string where the characters are separated by a space.

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my_str = 'abcde'

result = ' '.join(my_str)

print(result)  # 👉️ 'a b c d e'

The str.join() method takes an iterable as an argument and returns a string which is the concatenation of the strings in the iterable.

When called with a string argument, the join method adds the provided separator between each of the characters.

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my_str = 'abcde'

result = '_'.join(my_str)

print(result)  # 👉️ 'a_b_c_d_e'

To insert spaces between the characters, call the join method on a string containing a space.

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my_str = 'abcde'

result = ' '.join(my_str)

print(result)  # 👉️ 'a b c d e'

You can also add multiple spaces if you need to separate the characters by more than 1 space.

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my_str = 'abcde'

result = '  '.join(my_str)

print(result)  # 👉️ 'a  b  c  d  e'

# Add spaces between the characters of a string using a for loop

An alternative approach is to iterate over the string and add spaces between the characters manually.

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my_str = 'abcde'

result = ''

for char in my_str:
    result += char + ' ' * 1

result = result.strip()

print(repr(result))  # 👉️ 'a b c d e'

Note that this approach is much more inefficient than using str.join().

You can multiply a string by a specific number to repeat the string N times.

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print(repr(' ' * 3))  # 👉️ '   '
print(repr('a' * 3))  # 👉️ 'aaa'

If you need to remove the trailing spaces after the last character, use the strip() method.

The str.strip() method returns a copy of the string with the leading and trailing whitespace removed.

The method does not change the original string, it returns a new string. Strings are immutable in Python.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• Remove special characters except Space from String in Python
• Replace multiple spaces with a single space in Python
• How to replace Spaces with Underscores in Python
• Split a String and remove the Whitespace in Python
• How to Split a string by Whitespace in Python
• Using json.dumps() without Spaces in Python
• Python: inconsistent use of tabs and spaces in indentation