How to change any data type into a String in Python?

Python defines type conversion functions to directly convert one data type to another which is useful in day to day and competitive programming. A string is a sequence of characters. Strings are amongst the most popular types in Python. We can create them simply by enclosing characters in quotes.

Example : Creating strings in different ways :

# creating string using ' '
str1 = 'Welcome to the Geeks for Geeks !'
print(str1)

# creating string using " "
str2 = "Welcome Geek !"
print(str2)

# creating string using ''' '''
str3 = '''Welcome again'''
print(str3)

Output :

Welcome to the Geeks for Geeks!
Welcome Geek!
Welcome again

Changing any data type into a String

There are two ways for changing any data type into a String in Python :

1. Using the str() function
2. Using the __str__() function

Method 1 : Using the str() function
Any built-in data type can be converted into its string representation by the str() function. Built-in data type in python include:- int, float, complex, list, tuple, dict etc.
Syntax :

str(built-in data type)

Example :

# a is of type int
a = 10
print("Type before : ", type(a))

# converting the type from int to str
a1 = str(a)
print("Type after : ", type(a1))

# b is of type float
b = 10.10
print("\nType before : ", type(b))

# converting the type from float to str
b1 = str(b)
print("Type after : ", type(b1))

# type of c is list
c = [1, 2, 3]
print("\nType before :", type(c))

# converting the type from list to str
c1 = str(c)
print("Type after : ", type(c1))

# type of d is tuple
d = (1, 2, 3)
print("\nType before:-", type(d))

# converting the type from tuple to str
d1 = str(d)
print("Type after:-", type(d1))

Output:

Type before : <class 'int'>
Type after : <class 'str'>

Type before : <class 'float'>
Type after : <class 'str'>

Type before : <class 'list'>
Type after : <class 'str'>

Type before : <class 'tuple'>
Type after : <class 'str'>

Method 2 : Defining __str__() function for a user defined class to be converted to string representation. For a user defined class to be converted to string representation, __str__() function needs to be defined in it.

Example :

# class addition
class addition:
    def __init__(self):
        self.a = 10
        self.b = 10

    # defining __str__() function
    def __str__(self):
        return 'value of a = {} value of b = {}'.format(self.a, self.b)

# creating object ad
ad = addition()
print(str(ad))

# printing the type
print(type(str(ad)))

Output:

value of a =10 value of b =10
<class 'str'>