Python String startswith() Method

The startswith() method is used to check if a string starts with a specified prefix. It returns True if the string starts with the specified prefix, otherwise, it returns False.

Syntax

string.startswith(prefix, start, end)

Parameter

prefix: The string (or a tuple of strings) to check for at the beginning of the string.

start (Optional): The starting index where the check begins (default is 0).

end (Optional): The ending index where the check ends (default is the end of the string).

Return Value

Returns True if the string starts with the specified prefix, otherwise False.

Examples

Basic Usage

text = "Python is awesome"
print(text.startswith("Python")) # Output: True
print(text.startswith("Java"))   # Output: False

With start Parameter

You can provide the start parameter to the startswith() method if you want to check whether a string begins with a specified prefix at a specific index.

text = "Python is awesome. Java is incredible too"
print(text.startswith("Java", 19))   # Output: True

With start and end Parameters

You can provide the start and end parameters to the startswith() method if you want to check whether a string begins with a specified prefix within a specific range of indices.

text = "Python is awesome"
print(text.startswith("is", 7, 10))   # Output: True

Using a Tuple of Prefixes

You can provide a tuple of strings to the startswith() method if you want to check whether a string begins with any of the specified prefixes.

text = "Python is awesome"
print(text.startswith(("Java", "Python", "Ruby")))   # Output: True

Case-Sensitivity

The startswith() method is case-sensitive, meaning it treats uppercase and lowercase letters as distinct characters.

text = "Python is awesome"
print(text.startswith("python"))   # Output: False

In this example, the startswith() method checks if the string starts with the exact lowercase prefix "python" but the string text starts with prefix "Python" with an uppercase "P". Since the cases don’t match, the method returns False.

If you need to check if a string ends with a specified suffix, you can use the endswith() method.