String length ... len(str)

[Jay O'Connor]

Jeff Wagner wrote:

>Can someone please explain the following to me:
>
>  
>
>>>>str1 = "here"
>>>>str2 = "here", "we", "are"
>>>>len(str1)
>>>>        
>>>>
>4
>  
>
>>>>len(str2)
>>>>        
>>>>
>3
>
>Why is len(str1) = 4  and len(str2) = 3?
>
>If we were to say it's because the len() functions returns the number of elements in a string, then
>len(str1) should be = 1
>
>It's a little confusing.
>  
>

str2 =is a tuple of three strings, not a concatenated string.  So you 
are getting the number if strings in the tuple, not the number of 
characters in a longer string.  You have to use join to concatenate the 
strings with either join() or +

 >>> str2 = "here", "we", "are"
 >>>
 >>> str2
('here', 'we', 'are')
 >>> type (str2)
<type 'tuple'>
 >>> len (''.join (str2))
9
 >>> str3 = "here" +  "we" +"are"
 >>> str3
'hereweare'
 >>> len (str3)
9