Q.What will be the output of the following statement ? print("PythonProgram"[-1:2:-2])

The key idea is Python string slicing [start:stop:step] with a negative step, which walks the string from right to left.

The string is "PythonProgram" (indices 0-12). The slice [-1:2:-2] means start=-1, stop=2, step=-2. A negative index -1 refers to the last character (index 12), so slicing moves backward from index 12, taking every second character, stopping before ind …

Concept — Python string slicing with a negative step

Python's slice syntax is [start:stop:step]:

• start — the index where the slice begins.
• stop — the index where it ends; the character at stop is not included.
• step — the jump between indices. A negative step walks the string from right to left, continuing while the current index is greater than stop.

A negative index counts from the end: -1 is the last character. For a string of length 13, index -1 is the same as index 12.

Step-by-step trace

The string "PythonProgram" has 13 characters:

For [-1:2:-2]: start = -1 (that is index 12), stop = 2, step = -2. We move backward from index 12, taking every second character, and stop as soon as the index is not greater than 2:

| Current index | Included? (index > 2) | Character taken | …