Determines whether the string starts with a given substring
Usage
The startswith()
method returns True if the string starts with the specified prefix, otherwise returns False.
You can limit the search by specifying optional arguments start and end.
startswith()
also accepts a tuple of prefixes to look for.
Syntax
string.startswith(prefix,start,end)
Parameter | Condition | Description |
prefix | Required | Any string you want to search |
start | Optional | An index specifying where to start the search. Default is 0. |
end | Optional | An index specifying where to stop the search. Default is the end of the string. |
Basic Example
# Check if the string starts with 'Bob'
S = 'Bob is a CEO.'
x = S.startswith('Bob')
print(x)
# Prints True
Limit startswith() Search to Substring
To limit the search to the substring, specify the start and end parameters.
# Check if the substring (9th to 18th character) starts with 'CEO'
S = 'Bob is a CEO at ABC'
x = S.startswith('CEO',9,18)
print(x)
# Prints True
Provide Multiple Prefixes to Look for
You can provide multiple prefixes to the method in the form of a tuple. If the string starts with any item of the tuple, the method returns True, otherwise returns False.
S = 'Bob is a CEO'
prefixes = ('Bob','Max','Sam')
x = S.startswith(prefixes)
print(x)
# Prints True
S = 'Max is a COO'
prefixes = ('Bob','Max','Sam')
x = S.startswith(prefixes)
print(x)
# Prints True