Create multiple copies of a string in Python by using multiplication operator

In this article, we will see how to create multiple copies of a string by using the multiplication operator(*). Python supports certain operations to be performed on a string, multiplication operator is one of them.

Method 1: 

Simply using multiplication operator on the string to be copied with the required number of times it should be copied.

Syntax:

str2 = str1 * N

where str2 is the new string where you want to store the new string

str1 is the original string

N is the number of the times you want to copy the string.

After using multiplication operator we get a string as output

Example 1:

Python3

# Original string
a = "Geeks"

# Multiply the string and store
# it in a new string
b = a*3

# Display the strings
print(f"Original string is: {a}")
print(f"New string is: {b}")

Output:

Original string is: Geeks

New string is: GeeksGeeksGeeks

Example 2:

Python3

# Initializing the original string
a = "Hello"
n = 5

# Multiplying the string
b = a*n

# Print the strings
print(f"Original string is: {a}")
print(f"New string is: {b}")

Output:

Original string is: Hello

New string is: HelloHelloHelloHelloHello

Method 2: Copying a string multiple times given in a list

If we have a string as a list element, and we use the multiplication operator on the list we will get a new list that contains the same element copied specified number of times.

Syntax:

a  = [“str1”] * N

a will be a list that contains str1 N number of times.

It is not necessary that the element we want to duplicate in a list has to be a string. Multiplication operator in a list can duplicate anything.

Example 3:

Python3

# Initialize the list
a = ["Geeks"]

# Number of copies
n = 3

# Multiplying the list elements
b = a*n

# print the list
print(f"Original list is: {a} ")
print(f"List after multiplication is: {b}")

Output:

Original list is: [‘Geeks’]  

List after multiplication is: [‘Geeks’, ‘Geeks’, ‘Geeks’]

The time complexity of this code is O(n), where n is the number of copies of the original list. 

The auxiliary space complexity of this code is also O(n), where n is the number of copies of the original list. 

Example 4: Shorthand method for the same approach

Python3

# initializing a string with all True's
a = [True]*5
print(a)

# Initializing a list with all 0
a = [0]*10
print(a)

Output:

[True, True, True, True, True]

[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]