Typecasting in Python Programming Language

What is Typecasting

In Python program the process of changing one data type into another data type is known as Typecasting. There are two types of typecasting:

• Implicit Typecasting
• Explicit Typecasting

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Implicit Typecasting

Implicit typecasting, also known as automatic type conversion, occurs when the Python interpreter automatically converts a value from one data type to another without the need for programmer intervention. This typically happens when a smaller data type is assigned to a larger data type.

a = 5        # integer
b = 2.5      # float
c = a + b    # Python automatically converts 'a' to a float and the result will be 7.5

Here, you can see that the first variable, a, is an integer because its value is a whole number without a decimal point. On the other hand, the second variable, b, is a float because it contains a number with a decimal point.

In this case, Python implicitly converts the integer variable a to a float before performing the addition. This automatic type conversion happens when a smaller data type (like an integer) needs to be converted to a larger or more complex data type (like a float) to avoid data loss. This type of conversion is known as Implicit Casting.

Explicit Typecasting

Explicit typecasting, also known as manual type conversion, occurs when the programmer explicitly converts a value from one type to another using built-in type conversion functions such as int(), float(), str(), etc.. The syntax for explicit type casting is:

datatype_name(value)

a = 8
b = float(a)    # result of b will be 8.0

Here, you can see that we have converted the integer value 8 into the float value 8.0 using the float() function.

a = 5.8
b = int(a)    # result of b will be 5

Here, you can see that we have converted the float value 5.8 into integer value 5 using the int() function.

a = 456
b = str(a)    # result of b will be 456 but it will be treated as string.

Here, you can see that we have converted the integer value 456 into string value "456" using the str() function.

a = "18"
b = int(a)    # result of b will be 18 and it will be an integer type value.

Here, you can see that we have converted the string value "18" into integer value 18 using the int() function.

a = 24.19
b = str(a)    # result of b will be 24.19 but it will be treated as string.

Here, you can see that we have converted the float value 24.19 into string value "24.19" using the str() function.

a = "57.49"
b = float(a)    # result of b will be 57.49 and it will be a float type value.

Here, you can see that we have converted the string value "57.49" into float value 57.49 using the float() function.