escaping the leading 'b' in python

Question

I was trying to strip a string like

var/vob/bxxxxx/xxxxx/vob

I am doing it like...

'var/vob/bxxxxx/xxxxx/vob'.lstrip('/var/vob/')

I am expecting an output like ...

bxxxxx/xxxx/vob

But it is only giving...

xxxx/xxxxxx/vob

Yes I know because of the first letter is b and in python prefix b for a string stands for converting it into bytes, and I have read this too...

But what I wanted to know is how to bypass this thing.. I want to get the desired output...

I would love to say the things I have tried.. but I don't find any way around to try... can some one throw some light on this...

Thanks :)

Your sample string doesn't even begin with your lstrip argument, since it lacks the leading /. If you want to chop a fixed prefix off a string, I'd test startswith(prefix) and then slice, something like test[len(prefix):]. — Peter DeGlopper
– Peter DeGlopper, Commented Dec 19, 2013 at 4:20
Oh, and in response to this part: "in python prefix b for a string stands for converting it into bytes" - that refers to a) only Python 3.x and b) refers to using b as a marker outside the quotes. In Python 3, this would be a literal for a bytes object: b'foo', while this would be a literal for a string object: 'bfoo'. In Python 2.x, the u marker serves an inverse purpose - 'foo' is an encoded string, while u'foo' is a Unicode object. — Peter DeGlopper
– Peter DeGlopper, Commented Dec 19, 2013 at 4:28

Mark Ransom · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 04:14:41Z

6

You misunderstand what lstrip does. It removes all characters that are part of the parameter string. Order doesn't matter. Since b is in the string it is removed from the front of the result.

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 4:14

Mark Ransom

310k44 gold badges423 silver badges660 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Mark Ransom Over a year ago

@PeterDeGlopper, that comment would be better left on the original question.

Peter DeGlopper Over a year ago

Fair enough - I thought of it as expanding your answer (which explains why the OP's attempt didn't work) by suggesting an alternate approach, but no matter.

Sravan K Ghantasala Over a year ago

Thanks for enlightening me :)

bigblind · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-19 04:17:55Z

2

What about

if s.startswith("var/vob/):
    s = s[8:]

And yes, Mark is right, lstrip removes any haracters from contained in the argument from the string.

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 4:17

bigblind

12.9k14 gold badges72 silver badges132 bronze badges

Comments

Sravan K Ghantasala · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-24 12:26:07Z

2

The best way to do this would be, like this

data, text = "/var/vob/bxxxxx/IT_test/vob", "/var/vob/"
if data.startswith(text): data = data[len(text):]
print data

Output

bxxxxxx/IT_test/vob

edited Feb 24, 2014 at 12:26

Sravan K Ghantasala

1,3681 gold badge11 silver badges14 bronze badges

answered Dec 19, 2013 at 4:28

thefourtheye

241k53 gold badges466 silver badges505 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

escaping the leading 'b' in python

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

3 Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related