What is the first negative index in a string

What is the first negative index in a string?
Select one:
A. 0
B. -0
C. -1
D. size of the string minus one

The correct answer and explanation is :

The correct answer is:

C. -1

Explanation:

In Python, strings (and other sequences, like lists and tuples) support both positive and negative indexing. The concept of negative indexing allows you to access elements from the end of the sequence, rather than starting from the beginning.

Here’s a breakdown of how indexing works:

  1. Positive Indexing:
  • The first character of a string has an index of 0.
  • The second character has an index of 1, and so on.
  • For a string of length n, the last character has an index of n-1. For example, for the string "hello", the indexing is as follows:
  • 'h' is at index 0,
  • 'e' is at index 1,
  • 'l' is at index 2,
  • 'l' is at index 3,
  • 'o' is at index 4.
  1. Negative Indexing:
  • The first character from the end of the string has an index of -1.
  • The second-to-last character has an index of -2, and so on.
  • The last character of the string can be accessed with the index -1. Using the same example, for the string "hello", the negative indexing is:
  • 'o' is at index -1,
  • 'l' is at index -2,
  • 'l' is at index -3,
  • 'e' is at index -4,
  • 'h' is at index -5. The first negative index, therefore, is -1.
  1. Why is the first negative index -1?:
  • The idea behind negative indexing is to make it easier to access elements starting from the end of the sequence. By using -1, Python allows a simple, intuitive way to access the last element without needing to calculate the length of the sequence each time. It is important to understand that -1 refers to the last element of the string, and subsequent negative numbers refer to earlier elements.

In conclusion, the first negative index in a string is -1, which refers to the last character of the string. Thus, the correct answer is C. -1.

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