Fastest way to remove the first x characters from a very long string

[bruceg113355 at gmail.com]

On Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 12:59:19 PM UTC-4, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 2:22 AM,  <bruceg113355 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > # Original Approach
> > # -----------------
> > ss = ss.split("\n")
> > ss1 = ""
> > for sdata in ss:
> >     ss1 = ss1 + (sdata[OFFSET:] + "\n")
> >
> >
> > # Chris's Approach
> > # ----------------
> > lines = ss.split("\n")
> > new_text = "\n".join(line[8:] for line in lines)
> 
> Ah, yep. This is exactly what str.join() exists for :) Though do make
> sure the results are the same for each - there are two noteworthy
> differences between these two. Your version has a customizable OFFSET,
> where mine is hard-coded; I'm sure you know how to change that part.
> The subtler one is that "\n".join(...) won't put a \n after the final
> string - your version ends up adding one more newline. If that's
> important to you, you'll have to add one explicitly. (I suspect
> probably not, though; ss.split("\n") won't expect a final newline, so
> you'll get a blank entry in the list if there is one, and then you'll
> end up reinstating the newline when that blank gets joined in.) Just
> remember to check correctness before performance, and you should be
> safe.
> 
> ChrisA

Hi Chris,

Your approach more than meets my requirements.
Data is formatted correctly and performance is simply amazing. 
OFFSET and \n are small details.

Thank you again,
Bruce