Python String count() – Be on the Right Side of Change

Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of a substring.

Minimal Example

>>> 'xxxyxxxyxyxx'.count('xy')
3

As you read over the explanations below, feel free to watch our video guide about this particular string method:

Syntax and Explanation

str.count(sub[, start[, end]])

Returns the number of non-overlapping occurrences of a substring sub.

As optional arguments, you can set a range between start and end indices to limit the search. The semantics of the start and stop arguments are similar to the standard slicing syntax, i.e., the start index is included and the end index is excluded.

Per default, the whole string is searched for the matching substring.

Python String Count Example + Video

Want to count how often a substring occurs in a string? Or how many lines a mult-line string has? Use the count method on any string object!

You can use a single argument (the substring to be counted), and two optional arguments start and end to indicate the first or the last index of the substring. This way, you can focus on a fixed area within your string.

Here is an example:

s = "Hi my name is, hi my name is, slim shady"

print(s.count("name"))
# 2

print(s.count("name", 10))
# 1

More String Methods

Python’s string class comes with a number of useful additional string methods. Here’s a short collection of all Python string methods—each link opens a short tutorial in a new tab.

Method	Description
`capitalize()`	Return a copy of the string with capitalized first character and lowercased remaining characters.
`casefold()`	Return a lowercased, casefolded string similar to `lowercase()` but more aggressive.
`center()`	Return a centered string of a certain length, padded with whitespace or custom characters.
`count()`	Return the number of non-overlapping occurrences of a substring.
`encode()`	Returns a byte object that is an encoded version of the string.
`endswith()`	Returns whether the string ends with a given value or not (`True` or `False`).
`expandtabs()`	Return a string with spaces instead of tab characters.
`find()`	Returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring.
`format()`	Formats the string according to the Format Description Language.
`format_map()`	Formats the string according to the Format Description Language, passing a mapping object.
`index()`	Returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring, like `find()` but it raises a `ValueError` if the substring is not found.
`isalnum()`	Checks whether all characters are alphabetic or numeric (`True` or `False`).
`isalpha()`	Checks whether all characters are alphabetic (`True` or `False`).
`isascii()`	Checks whether all characters are ASCII (`True` or `False`).
`isdecimal()`	Checks whether all characters are decimal numbers (`True` or `False`).
`isdigit()`	Checks whether all characters are digits, i.e., numbers from 0 to 9 (`True` or `False`).
`isidentifier()`	Checks whether all characters are identifiers that can be used as names of functions, classes, or variables (`True` or `False`).
`islower()`	Checks whether all characters are lowercase (`True` or `False`).
`isnumeric()`	Checks whether all characters are numeric values (`True` or `False`).
`isprintable()`	Checks whether all characters are printable (`True` or `False`).
`isspace()`	Checks whether all characters are whitespaces (`True` or `False`).
`istitle()`	Checks if the string is title-cased (`True` or `False`).
`isupper()`	Checks whether all characters are uppercase (`True` or `False`).
`join()`	Concatenates the elements in an iterable.
`ljust()`	Returns a left-justified string filling up the right-hand side with fill characters.
`lower()`	Returns a lowercase string version.
`lstrip()`	Trims whitespaces on the left and returns a new string.
`maketrans()`	Returns a translation table.
`partition()`	Searches for a separator substring and returns a tuple with three strings: (1) everything before the separator, (2) the separator itself, and (3) everything after it.
`removeprefix()`	Return `string[len(prefix):]` if the string starts with `prefix`, and `string[:]` otherwise.
`removesuffix()`	Return `string[:-len(suffix)]` if the string starts with `suffix`, and `string[:]` otherwise.
`replace()`	Returns a string with replaced values.
`rfind()`	Return the highest index in the string where a substring is found. Returns `-1` if not found.
`rindex()`	Return the highest index in the string where a substring is found. Returns `ValueError` if not found.
`rjust()`	Returns a right-justified string filling up the left-hand side with fill characters.
`rpartition()`	Searches for a separator substring and returns a tuple with three strings: (1) everything before the separator, (2) the separator itself, and (3) everything after it.
`rsplit()`	Splits the string at a given separator and returns a split list of substrings.
`rstrip()`	Trims whitespaces on the right and returns a new string.
`split()`	Splits the string at a given separator and returns a split list of substrings.
`splitlines()`	Splits the string at line breaks such as `'\n'` and returns a split list of substrings (i.e., lines).
`startswith()`	Returns whether the string starts with a given value or not (`True` or `False`).
`strip()`	Trims whitespaces on the left and right and returns a new string.
`swapcase()`	Swaps lowercase to uppercase characters and vice versa.
`title()`	Returns a new string with uppercase first characters of each word.
`translate()`	Returns a translated string.
`upper()`	Returns a lowercase string version.
`zfill()`	Fills the string from the left with `"0"` characters.