Check if a string starts with a specific string in Python

This post will discuss how to check if a string starts with a specific string in Python.

1. Using `str.startswith()` function

The preferred, fast way to check if the string starts with the given prefix uses the str.startswith() function.

if __name__ == '__main__':

s = "Techie"

word = "Tech"

res = s.startswith(word)

print(res) # True

The str.startswith() function can also accept a tuple of prefixes. This is useful when you want to match multiple prefixes with the string.

if __name__ == '__main__':

s = "Techie"

word = ("T", "S")

res = s.startswith(word)

print(res) # True

Another approach is to use the regex, but using a regex match for this trivial task would be overkill. This is demonstrated below in Python:

import re

if __name__ == '__main__':

s = "Techie"

res = re.match(r'^Tech', s) is not None

print(res) # True

That’s all about determining whether a string starts with a specific string in Python.