Python program to replace all occurrences of the first character in a string

Objective

Write a Python program to get a string from a given string where all occurrences of its first character have been changed to another character.

# Example 1
str = "Pylenin"
str_replace = "$"
Output ==> "$ylenin"

# Example 2
str = "Pylenin loves Python"
str_replace = "$"
Output ==> "$ylenin loves $ython"

Method 1 - Using if else

Code

user_input = input("Provide a string ==> ")
str_replace = input("Provide the replacement character ==> ")

if len(user_input) == 0:
    print("Nothing was passed")
    exit()
    
first_char = user_input[0]
new_string = ""
for char in user_input:
    if char == first_char:
        new_string += str_replace
    else:
        new_string += char
print(new_string)

Output

# Example 1
Provide a string ==> Pylenin
Provide the replacement character ==> $
$ylenin

# Example 2
Provide a string ==> Pylenin loves Python
Provide the replacement character ==> $
$ylenin loves $ython

Method 2 - Using string.replace() method

Code

user_input = input("Provide a string ==> ")
str_replace = input("Provide the replacement character ==> ")

if len(user_input) == 0:
    print("Nothing was passed")
    exit()

first_char = user_input[0]
print(user_input.replace(first_char, str_replace))

Output

# Example 1
Provide a string ==> Pylenin
Provide the replacement character ==> $
$ylenin

# Example 2
Provide a string ==> Pylenin loves Python
Provide the replacement character ==> $
$ylenin loves $ython

In both the above examples, we are checking if the length of user_input is greater than 0. If not, then we are using the exit() built-in function to exit the program. Otherwise, Python will throw us an error(Try it out).

But it can be done in a much better way with Exception Handling. Show me, how you would do the same using try-except blocks in the comments.