Python: replace Single with Double Quotes in String or List

# Table of Contents

1. Replacing single with double quotes in a String
2. Replace single with double quotes in a List in Python
3. Replace single with double quotes in a List using str.replace()
4. Replacing single with double quotes in a String using split() and join()

# Replacing single with double quotes in a String

Use the str.replace() method to replace the single quotes with double quotes in a string.

The method will return a new string where each occurrence of a single quote is replaced with a double quote.

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# ✅ replaces single with double quotes
string = "'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'"

result = string.replace("'", '"')

print(result) # 👉️ "bobby" "hadz" "com"

Notice that we alternate between double and single quotes in the arguments we passed to str.replace().

This is necessary to avoid terminating the string prematurely.

If you had to replace the double quotes with single quotes in a string, you would still have to alternate between quotes in the call to replace().

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# ✅ Replaces double with single quotes
string = '"bobby" "hadz" "com"'

result = string.replace('"', "'")

print(result)  # 👉️ 'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'

The str.replace() method returns a copy of the string with all occurrences of a substring replaced by the provided replacement.

The method takes the following parameters:

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string = "'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'"

result = string.replace("'", '"')

print(result) # 👉️ "bobby" "hadz" "com"

The method doesn't change the original string. Strings are immutable in Python.

The strings in the new list only contain double quotes.

# Replace single with double quotes in a List in Python

You can use the json.dumps() method to replace the single with double quotes in a list.

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import json

my_list = ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

# ✅ Replace single with double quotes in a list (json.dumps())
json_str = json.dumps(my_list)
print(json_str)  # 👉️ '["bobby", "hadz", "com"]'

# -------------------------------------------

# ✅ Replace single with double quotes in a list (str.replace())

my_list = ["'bobby'", "'hadz'", "'com'"]

result = [item.replace("'", '"') for item in my_list]
print(result)  # 👉️ ['"bobby"', '"hadz"', '"com"']

The first example uses the json.dumps() method to replace the single quotes in a list with double quotes.

The json.dumps() method converts a Python object to a JSON formatted string.

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import json

my_list = ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

# 👇️ json.dumps() converts a Python object to JSON string
json_str = json.dumps(my_list)
print(json_str)  # 👉️ ["bobby", "hadz", "com"]

print(type(json_str))  # 👉️ <class 'str'>

The json.dumps() method returns a string that is the JSON representation of the list.

If you need to convert the string to a native Python list, use the json.loads() method.

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import json

my_list = ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

json_str = json.dumps(my_list)
print(json_str)  # 👉️ ["bobby", "hadz", "com"]

native_list = json.loads(json_str)
print(native_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']

The json.loads method parses a JSON string into a native Python object.

Alternatively, you can call the str.replace() method on each item in the list.

# Replace single with double quotes in a List using str.replace()

This is a three-step process:

1. Use a list comprehension to iterate over the list.
2. Use the str.replace() method to replace single with double quotes in each string.
3. The strings in the new list will only contain double quotes.

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my_list = ["'bobby'", "'hadz'", "'com'"]

result = [item.replace("'", '"') for item in my_list]
print(result)  # 👉️ ['"bobby"', '"hadz"', '"com"']

We used a list comprehension to iterate over the list.

On each iteration, we use the str.replace() method to replace all single quotes in the string with double quotes.

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my_str = "bobby 'hadz' com"

result = my_str.replace("'", '"')
print(result) # 👉️ bobby "hadz" com

Notice that we alternate between double and single quotes in the string.

This is necessary to avoid terminating the string prematurely.

# Replacing single with double quotes in a String using split() and join()

You can also use the str.split() and str.join() methods to replace the single with double quotes in a string.

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string = "'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'"

new_string = '"'.join(string.split("'"))

print(new_string)  # "bobby" "hadz" "com"

The str.split() method splits the string into a list of substrings using a delimiter.

The method takes the following 2 parameters:

We split the string on each occurrence of a single quote.

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string = "'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'"

# 👇️ ['', 'bobby', ' ', 'hadz', ' ', 'com', '']
print(string.split("'"))

The last step is to join the list of strings with a double quote separator.

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string = "'bobby' 'hadz' 'com'"

new_string = '"'.join(string.split("'"))

print(new_string)  # "bobby" "hadz" "com"

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

# Additional Resources

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

• Replace First or First N characters in a String in Python
• Replace the Last or Last N characters in a String in Python
• Replace the Last or Nth occurrence in String in Python
• How to replace multiple Characters in a String in Python
• Replace multiple spaces with a single space in Python
• How to replace Spaces with Underscores in Python
• Replace words in a String using a Dictionary in Python