In programming languages, getting the length of a particular data type is a common practice.
Python is no different because you can use the built-in len() function to get the length of a string, tuple, list, dictionary, or any other data type.
In this article, I'm going to show you how to get the length of a string with the len() function.
Basic Syntax for len() in Python
To use the len() function to get the length of a data type, assign the data type to a variable, then pass the variable name to the len() function.
Like this:
len(variableName)
How to Find the Length of a String with the len() Function
When you use the len() function to get the length of a string, it returns the number of characters in the string – including the spaces.
Here are 3 examples to show you how it works:
name = "freeCodeCamp"
print(len(name))
# Output: 12
This means there are 12 characters in the string.
founder = "Quincy Larson"
print(len(founder))
# Output: 13
This means there are 13 characters in the string.
description = "freeCodeCamp is a platform for learning how to code for free"
print(len(description))
# Output: 60
This means there are 60 characters in the string.
How len() Works with Other Data Types in Python
You might be wondering how the len() function works on other data types such as lists and tuples.
When you use the len() function on a data type like tuple or list, it returns the number of items in the tuple or list, not the number of characters.
For example, 3 gets returned for the length of the tuple below, not the number of characters of the words in it.
langs = ("Python", "JavaScript", "Golang")
print(len(langs))
# Output: 3
So it just depends on the data type you're working with.
Conclusion
In this article, you learned how to get the length of a string – the number of characters.
Thank you for reading.