How can I check if a string contains only ASCII printable characters in Python?
Ava W

In Python, you can check if a string contains only ASCII printable characters using various approaches. Here's a long-form explanation of different methods to accomplish this: 1. Using String Methods: - One simple approach is to utilize string methods to check if each character in the string falls within the ASCII printable range. - Iterate over each character in the string using afor loop. - Use theisprintable() method to determine if the character is an ASCII printable character. - If any character is not printable, returnFalse. If all characters are printable, returnTrue. - Example:

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def contains_only_ascii_printable(string):
    for char in string:
   if not char.isprintable():
  return False
    return True

2. Using Regular Expressions: - Regular expressions can be used to match and validate if a string contains only ASCII printable characters. - You can import there module and define a regular expression pattern that matches the ASCII printable characters. - The patternr'^[\x20-\x7E]+$' matches a string containing one or more ASCII printable characters. - Use there.match() function to check if the entire string matches the pattern. - If it matches, returnTrue; otherwise, returnFalse. - Example:

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import re

def contains_only_ascii_printable(string):
    pattern = r'^[\x20-\x7E]+$'
    return bool(re.match(pattern, string))

3. Using theunicodedata Module: - Theunicodedata module provides functions to access Unicode character properties. - Iterate over each character in the string using afor loop. - Use theunicodedata.category() function to retrieve the Unicode category of each character. - If any character's category does not fall within the ASCII printable range, returnFalse. - If all characters have categories within the ASCII printable range, returnTrue. - Example:

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import unicodedata

def contains_only_ascii_printable(string):
    for char in string:
   category = unicodedata.category(char)
   if category not in ('Cc', 'Cf', 'Co', 'Cs', 'Ll', 'Lm', 'Lo', 'Lt', 'Lu', 'Mc', 'Mn', 'Nd', 'Nl', 'No', 'Pc', 'Pd', 'Pe', 'Pf', 'Pi', 'Po', 'Ps', 'Sc', 'Sk', 'Sm', 'So', 'Zl', 'Zp', 'Zs'):
  return False
    return True

Choose the method that best suits your requirements. Each approach checks if a string contains only ASCII printable characters, but they differ in terms of validation criteria, supported character sets, and potential overhead.

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