How can I find the number of overlapping sequences in a String with Python? [duplicate]

Answer 1

A simple to understand way to do it is:

def count(sub, string):
    count = 0
    for i in xrange(len(string)):
        if string[i:].startswith(sub):
            count += 1
    return count

count('baba', 'abababa baba alibababa')
#output: 5

If you like short snippets, you can make it less readable but smarter:

def count(subs, s):
    return sum((s[i:].startswith(subs) for i in xrange(len(s))))

This uses the fact that Python can treat boolean like integers.