Question

Python 2.7.3 (default, Apr 20 2012, 22:44:07) 
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.  

>>> s = "www.example.com/help"
>>> s.strip('/')
>>> 'www.example.com/help'    #expected 'www.example.comhelp'
>>> t = "/blah/blah/"
>>> t.strip('/')
>>> 'blah/blah'    #expected 'blahblah'
>>> s.strip('w.')
>>> 'example.com/help'    #expected 'examplecom/help'
>>> f = 'www.example.com'
>>> f.strip('.')
>>> 'www.example.com'    #expected 'wwwexamplecom'
>>> f.strip('comw.')
>>> 'example'    #as expected

Can someone please explain why str.strip doesn’t seem to work as promised?

From the documentation:

str.strip([chars])

Return a copy of the string with the leading and trailing characters removed. The chars argument is a string specifying the set of characters to be removed. If omitted or None, the chars argument defaults to removing whitespace. The chars argument is not a prefix or suffix; rather, all combinations of its values are stripped:

Answer 1

str.strip([chars])

Return a copy of the string with the leading and trailing characters removed.

Use this to replace a string anywhere:

s.replace('/', '')