Python | Remove punctuation from string

Difficulty Level : Basic
Last Updated : 30 Jun, 2021

Many times while working with Python strings, we have a problem in which we need to remove certain characters from strings. This can have application in data preprocessing in the Data Science domain and also in day-day programming. Let’s discuss certain ways in which we can perform this task.

Method #1 : Using loop + punctuation string

This is the brute way in which this task can be performed. In this, we check for the punctuations using a raw string which contain punctuations and then we construct string removing those punctuations.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Removing punctuations in string
# Using loop + punctuation string
 
# initializing string
test_str = "Gfg, is best : for ! Geeks ;"
 
# printing original string
print("The original string is : " + test_str)
 
# initializing punctuations string
punc = '''!()-[]{};:'"\,<>./?@#$%^&*_~'''
 
# Removing punctuations in string
# Using loop + punctuation string
for ele in test_str:
    if ele in punc:
        test_str = test_str.replace(ele, "")
 
# printing result
print("The string after punctuation filter : " + test_str)

Output :

The original string is : Gfg, is best : for ! Geeks ;
The string after punctuation filter : Gfg is best  for  Geeks

Method #2 : Using regex

The part of replacing with punctuation can also be performed using regex. In this, we replace all punctuation with an empty string using a certain regex.

Python3

# Python3 code to demonstrate working of
# Removing punctuations in string
# Using regex
import re
 
# initializing string
test_str = "Gfg, is best : for ! Geeks ;"
 
# printing original string
print("The original string is : " + test_str)
 
# Removing punctuations in string
# Using regex
res = re.sub(r'[^\w\s]', '', test_str)
 
# printing result
print("The string after punctuation filter : " + res)

Output :

The original string is : Gfg, is best : for ! Geeks ;
The string after punctuation filter : Gfg is best  for  Geeks

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