[Tutor] beginsWith multiple prefixes

[Alan Gauld]

"Emad Nawfal (عماد نوفل)" <emadnawfal at gmail.com> wrote
>> >> I want a function that acts like the startswith method, but can 
>> >> take
>> >> multiple prefixes.
>> Above does a lot more work than necessary. Try:
>>
>> def beginsWith(word, listname):
>>     for prefix in listname:
>>        if word.startswith(prefix):
>>           return True
You could also make this a method of a subclass of string if you 
prefer:

class MyString(str):
   def beginswith(self, prefixes):
        for prefix in prefixes:
             if self.startswith(prefix):
                return prefix

Now you can create instances of MyString that will have all
the regular vstring methiods plus the new beginswith():

s = MyString("Welcome to my world")
if s.beginswith(["Welcome", "Hello","Howdy"]):
    print "It's friendly"

Which looks more consistent.

HTH,

-- 
Alan Gauld
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld