Question

I’m using replace() to distort data, and I’d like to have a “high distortion” setting where every instance is replaced, and a “low distortion” setting where there’s a 50% chance of each instance being replaced. For example:

x = "aaaaaaaaaa"
x = x.replace("a", "b")
'bbbbbbbbbb'

x = "aaaaaaaaaa"
x = x.5050replace("a", "b")
'aabbabbaab'

Without re-writing replace(), how could someone do this?

Answer 1

Use the random module:

import random
x = ''.join(i if random.randint(0, 1) else 'b' for i in x)

This code essentially ‘replaces’ each letter in x if random.randint evaluates to 0 with 'b', and leaves it as it is otherwise.

If your string is something for complicated like 'aacakedaaasa' and you only want to replace the 'a's, then try this:

x = ''.join(i if i != 'a' or random.randint(0, 1) else 'b' for i in x)

This doesn’t do anything if the letter isn’t 'a', and if it is, then replaces it with 'b' if random.randint returns 0, like the previous example.