7 Ways to Concatenate Strings in Python

Summary: in this tutorial, you’ll learn various ways to concatenate strings in Python.

Python provides you with various ways to concatenate one or more strings into a new string.

Since Python string is immutable, the concatenation always results in a new string.

1) Concatenating literal strings

To concatenate two or more literal strings, you just need to place them next to each other. For example:

s = 'String'  ' Concatenation'
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

Note that this way won’t work for the string variables.

2) Concatenating strings using the + operator

A straightforward way to concatenate multiple strings into one is to use the + operator:

s = 'String' + ' Concatenation' 
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

And the + operator works for both literal strings and string variables. For example:

s1 = 'String'
s2 = s1 + ' Concatenation'
print(s2)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

3) Concatenating strings using the += operator

Similar to the + operator, you can use the += operator to concatenate multiple strings into one:

s = 'String'
s += ' Concatenation'
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

4) Concatenating strings using the join() method

The join() method allows you to concatenate a list of strings into a single string:

s1 = 'String'
s2 = 'Concatenation'

s3 = ''.join([s1, s2])
print(s3)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

StringConcatenation

The join() method also allows you to specify a delimiter when concatenating strings. For example:

s1 = 'String'
s2 = 'Concatenation'

s3 = ' '.join([s1, s2])
print(s3)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, we use the join() method to concatenate strings delimited by a space.

The following example use the join() method to concatenate strings delimited by a comma:

s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation'
s = ','.join([s1, s2, s3])
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

Python,String,ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

5) Concatenating strings using the %-formatting

String objects have the built-in % operator that allows you to format strings. Also, you can use it to concatenate strings. For example:

s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation'
s = '%s %s %s' % (s1, s2, s3)
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

Python String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, Python substitutes a %s in the literal string by corresponding string variable in the tuple that follows the % operator.

6) Concatenating strings using the format() method

You can use the format() method to concatenate multiple strings into a string. For example:

s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation'
s = '{} {} {}'.format(s1, s2, s3)
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

Python String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this example, you use the {} in the string literal and pass the string that you want to concatenate to the format() method. The format() method substitutes the {} by the corresponding string argument.

7) Concatenating strings using f-strings

Python 3.6 introduced the f-strings that allow you to format strings in a more concise and elegant way.

And you can use the f-strings to concatenate multiple strings into one. For example:

s1, s2, s3 = 'Python', 'String', 'Concatenation'
s = f'{s1} {s2} {s3}'
print(s)Code language: PHP (php)

Output:

Python String ConcatenationCode language: JavaScript (javascript)

Which method should you use to concatenate strings

Even though there’re multiple ways to concatenate strings in Python, it’s recommended to use the join() method, the + operator, and f-strings to concatenate strings.