Python String startswith()

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the Python string startswith() method to check if a string begins with another string.

Introduction to the Python string startswith() method #

The startswith() method returns True if a string starts with another string. Otherwise, it returns False.

The following shows the syntax of the startswith() method:

str.startswith(prefix, [,start [,end ])Code language: Python (python)

The startswith() method accepts three parameters:

• prefix is a string or a tuple of strings to search for. The prefix parameter is mandatory.
• start is the position that the method starts looking for the prefix. The start parameter is optional.
• end is the position in the string that the method stops searching for the prefix. The end parameter is also optional.

Note that the startswith() method is case-sensitive. In other words, it will look for the prefix case-sensitively.

Python string startswith() method examples #

Let’s take some examples of using the string startswith() method.

1) Using the startswith() method to check if a string begins with another string #

The following example shows how to use the string startswith() method to check if a string starts with another string:

s = 'Make it work, make it right, make it fast.'
result = s.startswith('Make')
print(result)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

TrueCode language: Python (python)

As mentioned earlier, the startswith() method searches for a string case-sensitively. Therefore, the following example returns False:

s = 'Make it work, make it right, make it fast.'
result = s.startswith('make')
print(result)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

FalseCode language: Python (python)

2) Using the startswith() method with a tuple #

The following example uses the startswith() method to check if a string starts with one of the strings in a tuple:

s = 'Make it work, make it right, make it fast.'
result = s.startswith(('Make','make'))
print(result)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

TrueCode language: PHP (php)

3) Using the startswith() method with the start parameter #

The following example illustrates how to use the startswith() method to check if the string starts with the word make in lowercase starting from position 14:

s = 'Make it work, make it right, make it fast.'
result = s.startswith('make', 14)
print(result)Code language: Python (python)

Output:

TrueCode language: Python (python)

Summary #

• Use the Python string startswith() method to determine if a string begins with another string.