Convert a list of characters into a string in Python

Convert a list of characters into a string in Python #

To convert a list of characters into a string:

1. Call the str.join() method on a string separator.
2. Pass the list to the join() method.
3. The result will be a string containing the characters separated by the provided separator.

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

# 👇️ without a separator
my_str = ''.join(my_list)
print(my_str)  # 👉️ 'abc'

# 👇️ with a space separator
print(' '.join(my_list))  # 👉️ 'a b c'

# 👇️ with a hyphen separator
print('-'.join(my_list))  # 👉️ 'a-b-c'

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 contains numbers, or other types, convert all of the values to string before calling join().

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 1, 2, 3]

my_str = ', '.join(map(str, my_list))
print(my_str)  # 👉️ 'a, b, c, 1, 2, 3'

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

The string the join() method is called on is used as the separator between elements.

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

my_str = '-'.join(my_list)
print(my_str)  # 👉️ 'a-b-c'

If you need to join the list of characters with spaces, call the method on a string that contains a space.

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

my_str = ' '.join(my_list)
print(my_str)  # 👉️ 'a b c'

Similarly, you can use a newline (\n) to join the characters in the list with a newline character.

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

my_str = '\n'.join(my_list)

# a
# b
# c
print(my_str)

If you don't need a separator and just want to join the list's elements into a string, call the join() method on an empty string.

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my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c']

my_str = ''.join(my_list)

print(my_str) # 👉️ abc