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Asked: 2024-09-23T05:01:22+05:30 In:

How can I eliminate a specific suffix from a string in Python? I’m looking for an efficient method to do this.

I’ve been working on this little project in Python, and I’ve hit a bit of a snag that I could really use some help with. So, here’s the deal: I have a bunch of strings, and each of them ends with a certain suffix that I need to remove for the application I’m building. The problem is, these strings are coming from user inputs, and the suffix is not always the same—I’m trying to handle different cases where maybe the user accidentally adds a common suffix like “-ing” or “-ed.”

I want to make sure that whatever method I use is efficient. I mean, I’m working with a pretty large dataset, and I don’t want things to slow down because of a clunky string manipulation process. I’ve seen a few different ways to tackle this, like using string slicing or regex, but I’m not sure which method would be the best choice for performance and clarity.

Here’s a specific example: let’s say I have a string like “running” and I want to strip off “ing.” Or maybe I have “played” and need to remove “ed.” It’s crucial that the solution I come up with not only works but does so quickly, even if I have thousands of these strings to process.

I’m leaning towards some built-in Python functions because I’ve heard they can be optimized for performance, but I’m worried about edge cases—like what if the string doesn’t end with the expected suffix? It would be a bummer to end up with unwanted results because of an oversight.

So, I’m looking for advice—how can I efficiently eliminate a specific suffix from my strings in Python? Any code snippets that could help would be awesome, and if you’ve dealt with something similar, I’d love to hear about your experiences or any tips you might have. Thanks in advance for your help!

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    1. Best Answer

      To efficiently remove a specific suffix from strings in Python, you can use the `str.endswith` method to check if the string ends with the given suffix and then remove it using slicing. This method is straightforward and quite pythonic. Here is how you might do it:

      

      

      def remove_suffix(s, suffixes):
      

      for suffix in suffixes:
      

      if s.endswith(suffix):
      

      # Slice off the suffix
      

      s = s[:-len(suffix)]
      

      break  # Assuming you only want to remove one suffix
      

      return s
      

      # Example usage:
      

      suffixes = ['ing', 'ed']
      

      strings = ['running', 'played', 'walking', 'talked']
      

      # Process the list of strings:
      

      cleaned_strings = [remove_suffix(s, suffixes) for s in strings]
      

      print(cleaned_strings)
      

      ```
      

      This function loops through a list of potential suffixes and checks if the string ends with any of them. If it does, it removes the suffix and returns the cleaned string. Since built-in string methods in Python are already optimized for performance, this will work efficiently on large datasets.
      

      When using regular expressions, it can provide more flexibility and could potentially handle more complex cases. Here's an example using regex:
      

      python
      

      import re
      

      def remove_suffix_regex(s, suffixes):
      

      for suffix in suffixes:
      

      pattern = re.compile(r'{}$’.format(re.escape(suffix)))
      

      s, count = pattern.subn(”, s)
      

      if
      
							
      
							
      
														
      
														
      
							
      
								
															
      
						
      
						
      
					
      
				
      
							
		
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