How to create a numpy array of arbitrary length strings?

Learn, how to create a numpy array of arbitrary length strings in Python? By Pranit Sharma Last updated : October 09, 2023

NumPy is an abbreviated form of Numerical Python. It is used for different types of scientific operations in python. Numpy is a vast library in python which is used for almost every kind of scientific or mathematical operation. It is itself an array which is a collection of various methods and functions for processing the arrays.

A string is a group of characters, these characters may consist of all the lower case, upper case, and special characters present on the keyboard of a computer system. A string is a data type and the number of characters in a string is known as the length of the string.

Creating a numpy array of arbitrary length strings

For this purpose, we will create an array of dtype=object. If we try to assign a long string to a normal NumPy array, it truncates the string.

Let us understand with the help of an example,

Python program to create a numpy array of arbitrary length strings

# Import numpy
import numpy as np

# Creating an array
arr = np.array(['a', 'b', 'includehelp'], dtype='object')

# Display original array
print("Original Array:\n",arr,"\n")

# Adding some arbitrary length 
# to numpy array elements
arr[0] += '12345'

# Display result
print("Result:\n",arr,"\n")