Python: return letters not in string

Question

I was wondering if there was a method or way to return letters not in a string.

Meaning: Let's say I have the word "testing". "ing" in "testing" returns true but I want to return the letters in "testing" that are NOT in "ing" --- "test"

My plan was to go in this direction: But clearly it's wrong and I've been stuck on this for a while.

str = "testing"

cmpr = "ing"

    if cmpr in str
      return *letters* not cmpr in string

output = "test"

EDIT Better example: (where the letters do not appear in a row)

str = "testing"

cmpr = "tet"

str.replace(cmpr, '', 1) ----> I want it to return "sing" but it still returns "testing"

Can someone please help me solve this?

What if you have cmpr = 'ab' and str = 'ababac'? Do you want 'abac', 'ac', 'c', or something else? (Also, don't name your strings str, or when you try to call str(something), you'll get a weird TypeError.) — user2357112
– user2357112, Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 2:44
@user2456977 Then you'd want str.replace(cmpr, '', 1) to only replace the first occurrence. — grc
– grc, Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 2:51
"testing" --- "tet" ---> I want it to return "sing" but the replace method doesn't do that — user2456977
– user2456977, Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 3:51

shellbye · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-19 02:42:33Z

2

You can try this:

str.replace(cmpr,'')

answered Sep 19, 2014 at 2:42

shellbye

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user2456977 Over a year ago

"testing" --- "tet" ---> I want it to return "sing" it still returns "testing"

Ajit Vaze · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-19 05:14:31Z

1

Here is the solution:

str = "ababac"
cmpr = "ab"

for chr in cmpr:
    if chr in str:
        str = str.replace(chr,'',1)
print str

answered Sep 19, 2014 at 5:14

Ajit Vaze

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Comments

Morgan Buck · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-19 02:52:58Z

0

Well, if testing is 7 characters long..

0|1|2|3|4|5|6|

T|E|S|T|I|N|G|

You can PRINT the first 6 characters with:

print my_string[0:6]

So I think you could print by the following:(?)

return my_string(0:6)

I don't have Python up and running to test this. It's just where I would start.

To clarify, you could say

return testing(0:3)

So the output should be:

test

answered Sep 19, 2014 at 2:52

Morgan Buck

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