← ACARA Digital Technologies Years 5–6

Text (strings) as a data type

A string is text: a row of characters such as letters, digits, symbols and spaces, written inside quote marks like "cat". Even "5" is a string.

Part of: ACARA Digital Technologies Years 5–6 — Representing Data with Numbers — Module 39

Understanding Text (strings) as a data type in ACARA Digital Technologies Years 5–6

What it does: The quote marks make 5 a string, so the computer treats it as a character, like a letter. The letter a, the space and the letter b are three characters. A space is a character too. Spaces count as characters. h, i, space, m, u, m makes 6. Strings are rows of characters. Characters can be letters, digits, symbols or spaces, like "Room 4!". A is a letter and 1 is a digit. Both are characters, so the string has 2.

Common mistakes: Pieces of text are joined with +. The + is missing before pet. It should be print(name + " has a " + pet). A string needs a quote mark at both ends. The closing quote is missing. It should be phrase = "hi there".

Class: _____________________ · Name: _____________________ · Date: _________

Free printable worksheet with full answer key — or add this module to a class and your students practise it interactively.

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This module's key terms are also in a printable crossword (Modules 73–84) and word search (Modules 73–104).

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Each concept is reinforced from every angle — learned, then applied, then tested.

Learning

Duo

Which one is a string?

"cat"cat

Matches

name = cat

↓

The word cat has no quote marks, so it is not written as a string of text. It should be "cat".

Applying

Meanings

Term

string

Meaning

A string is text: a row of characters such as letters, digits, symbols and spaces, written inside quote marks like "cat". Even "5" is a string.

Practice

word = "cat"

Testing

Gaps

print((word))

Check Answer

Spots

2pet = "cat"

3print(name + " has a " pet)

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Quick Questions

1. Which one is a string?

A. "cat" ✓

B. cat

A string is text inside quote marks. Without quote marks, cat would look like a name, not text.

2. How many characters are in the string "hi mum"?

A. 6 ✓

B. 5

Spaces count as characters. h, i, space, m, u, m makes 6.

3. Which one is text, not a number?

A. "42" ✓

B. 42

Digits inside quote marks are text. They are a string, so the computer treats them like letters.

4. What is the empty string?

A. " " (quote marks with a space inside)

B. "" (quote marks with nothing inside) ✓

The empty string has 0 characters. A string with a space inside has 1 character, because a space counts.

5. Which statement is true?

A. A string can only hold letters.

B. A string can hold letters, digits, symbols and spaces. ✓

Strings are rows of characters. Characters can be letters, digits, symbols or spaces, like "Room 4!".

Match the Pairs

"cat" → A string: text made of the characters c, a and t, written inside quote marks

"" → The empty string: text with no characters inside the quote marks

Digits inside quote marks are text, not a number to do sums with → "5"

Spaces count as characters in a string, so this sentence has 3 characters → "a b"

name = cat → The word cat has no quote marks, so it is not written as a string of text. It should be "cat".

word = "hello → The closing quote mark is missing. A string needs a quote mark at the start and at the end: "hello".

Key Term

string

A string is text: a row of characters such as letters, digits, symbols and spaces, written inside quote marks like "cat". Even "5" is a string.

Fill in the Blanks

1. word = "dog" print(type(word))

Hint: Type the function that reports what data type a value is.

2. pin = "1234" print(len(pin))

Hint: Type the name of the variable that holds the digits inside quote marks.

3. greeting = "hi there" print(len(greeting))

Hint: Type the function that counts every character, including the space.

4. empty = "" print(len(empty) == 0)

Hint: Type the number of characters in a string with nothing between its quote marks.

5. num = "5" print(type(num) == str)

Hint: Type the short name Python uses for the text data type.

Spot the Error

Question 1

A name = "Ava"

B pet = "cat"

C print(name + " has a " pet)

Line C — Pieces of text are joined with +. The + is missing before pet. It should be print(name + " has a " + pet).

Question 2

A word = "cat"

B phrase = "hi there

C print(phrase)

Line B — A string needs a quote mark at both ends. The closing quote is missing. It should be phrase = "hi there".

Question 3

A code = "2024"

B total = code + 1

C print(total)

Line B — Digits inside quote marks are text, so you cannot add 1 to them. Turn the text into a number first: total = int(code) + 1.

Question 4

A first = "go"

B space = " "

C msg = first + "now"

D print(msg)

Line C — A space counts as a character. Leaving out the space variable makes the text "gonow". It should be msg = first + space + "now".

Question 5

A text = ""

B text = text + "a"

C text = text + "b"

D print(len(text)

Line D — The brackets do not match. len( needs its own closing bracket and so does print(. It should be print(len(text)).

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