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.