How to Limit the Number of Characters in Python

Often, when dealing with text data in Python, you might want to limit the number of characters in a string. There could be multiple reasons. Perhaps you need to save storage space or require to format the text in a certain way. Whatever your reason is, this tutorial will guide you through the process of managing strings and limiting their length in Python.

Step 1: Understanding Strings in Python

A string is a sequence of characters and one of the fundamental data types available in Python. Strings are generally used for representing text-based data.

To denote a string in Python, you use either single quotes or double quotes. Here’s an example:

1	string = "Hello, World!"

Step 2: Slicing Strings

We can use the concept of slicing to limit the number of characters in a string. Slicing allows us to access subsets of the string. If you’re not familiar with slicing, I recommend checking this tutorial.

1 2	string = "Hello, World!" print(string[:5])

This will output:

Hello

This piece of text “Hello” only includes the first 5 characters of the original string.

Step 3: Use len() function and an If Condition

An alternative way to limit the number of characters in a string is by using the len() function and an If condition. The len() function counts the number of characters in a string. You can use it to add a condition so that if it exceeds a certain number, the string will be trimmed down.

string = "Hello, World!"

max_limit = 5

if len(string) > max_limit:

string = string[:max_limit]

print(string)

This will output:

Hello

Just like before, the text “Hello” only includes the first 5 characters, the same as the max_limit value.

Full code

# Step 1

string = "Hello, World!"

# Step 2

trimmed_string = string[:5]

print(trimmed_string)

# Step 3