Translation table
A translation table is a mapping from source items to corresponding replacement, standardized, or translated values.
The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition
A translation table is a mapping from source characters to replacement characters used for character-by-character text translation.
- How it is used
- Translates strings efficiently when many character substitutions or removals must be applied consistently.
- How deep it goes
- Explains table construction, indexed character mapping, application, deletion, and loop-efficiency trade-offs.
- Examples
- Demonstrates operator conversion, character deletion, and punctuation removal while cleaning a text file.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Python string methods to replace or remove character sets without repeated replace calls.
Read how The Quick Python Book, Fourth Edition explains translation table →
Tiny Python Projects: Learn coding and testing with puzzles and games
A translation table is a mapping that specifies replacement values for characters processed by a string translation operation.
- How it is used
- Uses character mappings to perform whole-string replacement in one str.translate() operation.
- How deep it goes
- Defines table creation and lookup behavior, including unchanged and deleted characters, but defers deeper explanation.
- Examples
- Demonstrates digit substitution in 867-5309 and Jenny = 867-5309 while preserving punctuation and letters.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via Python's str.maketrans() and str.translate() to replace or delete selected characters.
Related concepts
- translateused by · str.translate is a Python string method that returns a copy with characters transformed or deleted according to a translation table.
- string moduleused by · The string module is a Python standard-library module providing constants and utilities for processing text and character classes.
- Mapimplemented by · A map is an associative data structure that stores key-value pairs and supports retrieving values by key.
- valueconfigured by · A value is the content, quantity, information, or worth attributed to an entity, property, expression, or outcome.
- keyconfigured by · A key is an identifier or value used to locate or access an associated entry or property in a keyed data structure.
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