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str.removeprefix()

Added in v3.9 · Updated March 13, 2026 · String Methods
stdlib string methods

The .removeprefix() method returns a copy of the string with the prefix removed, if the string actually starts with that prefix. If the prefix is not present, the method returns a copy of the original string unchanged. This method was added in Python 3.9 as part of PEP 616.

Signature

str.removeprefix(prefix)

Parameters

ParameterTypeDefaultDescription
prefixstrRequiredThe prefix string to remove from the beginning

Return Value

Returns a new string with the prefix removed. The original string remains unchanged.

Basic Examples

Remove a matching prefix

text = "HelloWorld"
result = text.removeprefix("Hello")
print(result)  # Output: World

Prefix not present returns unchanged string

text = "PythonProgramming"
result = text.removeprefix("Java")
print(result)  # Output: PythonProgramming

Case-sensitive matching

text = "PythonProgramming"
result = text.removeprefix("python")
print(result)  # Output: PythonProgramming

Practical Use Cases

Cleaning API responses

# API returns data prefixed with namespace
response = "api_user_12345"
user_id = response.removeprefix("api_")
print(user_id)  # Output: user_12345

Handling file paths

# Remove base directory from full path
full_path = "/home/user/project/src/main.py"
relative = full_path.removeprefix("/home/user/")
print(relative)  # Output: project/src/main.py

Normalizing input

# Remove common prefixes from product codes
codes = ["SKU-001", "SKU-002", "SKU-003"]
for code in codes:
    print(code.removeprefix("SKU-"))
# Output:
# 001
# 002
# 003

Chaining with other string methods

# Remove prefix then convert to uppercase
text = "hello_world"
result = text.removeprefix("hello_").upper()
print(result)  # Output: WORLD

Common Patterns

Working with empty prefix

Passing an empty string as the prefix returns a copy of the original string:

text = "Hello"
result = text.removeprefix("")
print(result)  # Output: Hello

This behavior can be useful in generalized string processing functions where the prefix might be optional.

Combining with conditional logic

You can use the method with conditional checks when you need different behavior based on whether the prefix exists:

def process_identifier(id_string, namespace):
    if id_string.startswith(namespace + "_"):
        return id_string.removeprefix(namespace + "_")
    return id_string

print(process_identifier("user_123", "user"))  # Output: 123
print(process_identifier("order_456", "user"))  # Output: order_456

Behavior Notes

  • The method is case-sensitive. Use .casefold() or .lower() first if you need case-insensitive prefix removal.
  • If the string does not start with the specified prefix, the original string is returned unchanged.
  • The method always returns a new string—it never modifies the original in place.
  • For removing suffixes instead, see .removesuffix() which was added alongside this method in Python 3.9.

See Also