# TypeError 'str' Object Does Not Support Item Assignment

**URL:** https://sentry.io/answers/strings-are-immutable/

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## The Problem

When you run the code below, Python will throw the runtime exception `TypeError: 'str' object does not support item assignment`.

```python
text = "hello world"
if text[0].islower():
    text[0] = text[0].upper()
```

This happens because in Python strings are immutable, and can't be changed in place.

## The Solution

The solution is to use one of Python's built in functions for string manipulation. In this particular case, `capitalize()` is what you'll need.

```python
text = "hello world"
text = text.capitalize()
```

Note that `capitalize` creates a new string and returns that new string. That's why we have to assign that new string to the `text` variable. In the example below, `text` would remain unchanged, and `capital` would have the result of capitalizing the `text` variable.

```python
text = "hello world"
capital = text.capitalize()
```

### Further Reading

If you're looking to get a deeper understanding of how Python application monitoring works, take a look at the following articles:

- [Debugging Python errors](https://blog.sentry.io/debugging-python-errors/)
- [How Grofers meets unprecedented delivery demand](https://sentry.io/customers/grofers/)
- [Getting started with a Python SDK (docs)](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/)

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*Source: [sentry.io/answers/strings-are-immutable/](https://sentry.io/answers/strings-are-immutable/)*