Text (strings) as a data type

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which one is a string?

A "cat"

B cat

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

A 6

B 5

3. Which one is text, not a number?

A "42"

B 42

4. What is the empty string?

A " " (quote marks with a space inside)

B "" (quote marks with nothing inside)

5. Which statement is true?

A A string can only hold letters.

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

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1"cat"		AA string: text made of the characters c, a and t, written inside quote marks
2""		B"a b"
3Digits inside quote marks are text, not a number to do sums with		CThe closing quote mark is missing. A string needs a quote mark at the start and at the end: "hello".
4Spaces count as characters in a string, so this sentence has 3 characters		D"5"
5name = cat		EThe empty string: text with no characters inside the quote marks
6word = "hello		FThe word cat has no quote marks, so it is not written as a string of text. It should be "cat".

Definitions

string

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

word = "dog" print(____(word))

pin = "1234" print(len(___))

greeting = "hi there" print(___(greeting))

empty = "" print(len(empty) == _)

num = "5" print(type(num) == ___)

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A name = "Ava"

B pet = "cat"

C print(name + " has a " pet)

Question 2

A word = "cat"

B phrase = "hi there

C print(phrase)

Question 3

A code = "2024"

B total = code + 1

C print(total)

Question 4

A first = "go"

B space = " "

C msg = first + "now"

D print(msg)

Question 5

A text = ""

B text = text + "a"

C text = text + "b"

D print(len(text)

Answer Key

Text (strings) as a data type

Section A: Quick Questions

A — "cat"

A — 6

A — "42"

B — "" (quote marks with nothing inside)

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

Section B: 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".

Section C: Definitions

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.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

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

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

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

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

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

Section E: Spot the Error

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

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

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.

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

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