3 How to Store Data in Variables

A variable is a container for other Python objects (such as a string, or anything else for that matter).

Let’s define a variable:

someString = "This is a string!"

The variable someString has now been stored in memory. Its contents can easily be accessed by typing the variable name:

someString

This will output the same string as 'This is a string.'. Remember that Python sees no difference between ' and ". They are interchangeable.

Variables can also be multiplied using the * operator. For example:

someString * 2

This outputs 'This is a string.This is a string.'. It quite literally multiplies the contents inside the variable called someString.

There is also a this called “string concatenation”. That is a fancy way of saying “add some strings together”. For example:

someString + "Some other string!"

This outputs 'This is a string.Some other string.'.

A string is not the only type of data you can store in a variable in Python. There are more types and mathematical operators like the * and the + (seen in the examples above) in the next part.