Python string center() function returns a centered string of specified size. We can also specify the character to use for padding, the default is whitespace.
Python String center()
The function syntax is:
str.center(width[, fillchar])
Let’s look at some examples of using string center() method.
s = 'Hello'
s1 = s.center(20)
print(f'***{s1}***')
Output: *** Hello ***
Note that my source string size is 5 and the new string size is 20. So both side paddings can’t be of equal size, here 7 whitespace characters are padded before the source string and 8 whitespace characters are padded after the source string.
NOTE: If you are not familiar with f-prefixed string formatting, it’s a new formatting method introduced in Python 3.6. You can read more about it in python f-strings article.
What will happen if the string size is more than the specified width? Let’s find it out with a simple example.
>>> s = 'Hello World'
>>> s.center(6)
'Hello World'
>>> s.center(12)
'Hello World '
>>> s.center(11)
'Hello World'
>>>
So if the string size is more than the specified width, the original string is returned without any padding or removing any characters.
Python String center() with fillchar
s = 'Hello'
s1 = s.center(20, '#')
print(f'***{s1}***')
s1 = s.center(20, 'ç')
print(f'***{s1}***')
Before we conclude this post, let’s look at some error scenarios.
s.center('#')
Output: TypeError: 'str' object cannot be interpreted as an integer
The error occurred because we didn’t provide the length of the output string.
s1 = s.center()
Output: TypeError: center() takes at least 1 argument (0 given)
s.center(20, '#$')
Output: TypeError: The fill character must be exactly one character long
That’s all for python string center() method. We can use it to create a new string of specific size with source string centered. It’s useful in creating a string to display purpose in UI or in HTML reports.
Reference: API Documentation
