Python: Find the middle character(s) of a given string

Last update on April 17 2025 13:01:08 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Find Middle Character(s)

Write a Python program to find the central character(s) of a given string. Return the two middle characters if the length of the string is even. Return the middle character if the length of the string is odd.

Sample Solution:

Python Code:

# Define a function named middle_char that takes a string (txt) as an argument.
def middle_char(txt):
    # Return the middle character(s) of the input string.
    # The slicing expression [(len(txt)-1)//2:(len(txt)+2)//2] extracts the middle character(s) for both odd and even-length strings.
    return txt[(len(txt)-1)//2:(len(txt)+2)//2]

# Test the function with different strings and print the results.

# Test case 1
text = "Python"
# Print the original string.
print("Original string: ", text)
# Print the middle character(s) of the string.
print("Middle character(s) of the said string: ", middle_char(text))

# Test case 2
text = "PHP"
# Print the original string.
print("\nOriginal string: ", text)
# Print the middle character(s) of the string.
print("Middle character(s) of the said string: ", middle_char(text))

# Test case 3
text = "Java"
# Print the original string.
print("\nOriginal string: ", text)
# Print the middle character(s) of the string.
print("Middle character(s) of the said string: ", middle_char(text))

Output:

Original string:  Python
Middle character(s) of the said string:  th

Original string:  PHP
Middle character(s) of the said string:  H

Original string:  Java
Middle character(s) of the said string:  av

Explanation:

Here is a breakdown of the above Python code:

Function definition:

The code defines a function named "middle_char()" that takes a string (txt) as an argument.

Slicing Expression:

The function uses a slicing expression [(len(txt)-1)//2:(len(txt)+2)//2] to extract the middle character(s) of the input string.

Middle character calculation:

For odd-length strings, the slicing extracts a single middle character. For even-length strings, it extracts two middle characters.

Visual Presentation:

Python: Compute cumulative sum of numbers of a given list.

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a Python program to return the middle character(s) of a given string based on its length.
Write a Python program to extract the central character(s) from a word, handling both even and odd length cases.
Write a Python program to determine and print the middle section of a string using precise indexing.
Write a Python program to calculate the indices for the central character(s) of a string and output the substring.

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Python Code Editor:

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