Only the first word of a string replaced in Python

Question

I try to translate dates with Python. If "January" is in the string, I replace it with "janvier" etc.

I loop trough the json database. But when there is two months in the same string ("september" and "october"), only the first is translated. Why?

datestring = datestring.replace(" - ", "-")

            # Trad french/english
            if "January" or "january" in datestring:
                x["auction_date"] = datestring.replace("January", "janvier")

            if "February" in datestring:
                x["auction_date"] = datestring.replace("February", "février")

            if "March" in datestring:
                x["auction_date"] = datestring.replace("March", "mars")

            if "April" in datestring:
                x["auction_date"] = datestring.replace("April", "avril")

...

Answer 1

You need to assign the replacement back to the date string, as strings are immutable in Python:

datestring = datestring.replace(" - ", "-")

# Trad french/english
if "January" or "january" in datestring:
    datestring = datestring.replace("January", "janvier")

if "February" in datestring:
    datestring = datestring.replace("February", "février")

if "March" in datestring:
    datestring = datestring.replace("March", "mars")

if "April" in datestring:
    datestring = datestring.replace("April", "avril")

# now make the assignment to your data frame
    x["auction_date"] = datestring
...

Answer 2

You don't need conditionals in this example. datestring.replace("January", "janvier") itself is a check. I'd recommend the following.

>>> datestring = "JanUarY"                                                                                              
>>> def english_to_french(month):
...     month = month.lower()
...     month = month.replace("january", "janvier")
...     month = month.replace("february", "février")
...     return month
...
>>> x = english_to_french(datestring)                                                                                   >>> print(x)
janvier

This may not be the most efficient, but possibly easier to manage.

Good luck.

PS: Wanted to point out a common oopsy

You have:

            # Trad french/english
            if "January" or "january" in datestring:
                x["auction_date"] = datestring.replace("January", "janvier")

The if statement in this check doesn't evaluate the way you think it does. Each condition after an and/or is treated independently. Here is an example.

>>> if "January":
...     print(True)                                                                                                     ...
True
>>> mystr = "Bobby"                                                                                                     >>> if "January" or "january" in mystr:                                                                                 ...     print("Bobby will always be in January")                                                                        ...
Bobby will always be in January

Instead

>>> if "January" in mystr or "january" in mystr:
...     print("Bobby will never be in January")
...
>>>

Or best yet!

>>> mystr = "JanUarY"
>>> if "january" in mystr.lower():
...     print("We found you!")
...
We found you!