Brute force method in python: def longestPalindrome(str1): count = 0 maxString = '' for i in range(0, len(str1)): for j in range(i+1, len(str1)): if str1[i:j] == reverseString(str1[i:j]): if count < len(str1[i:j]): count = len(str1[i:j]) maxString = str1[i:j] return maxString def reverseString(str1): return str1[::-1] str1 = "madammalayalamaslkdfjkjlkweoilmlkdfslmalayalamaksdjflkasjfdmadamasdfas" print longestPalindrome(str1)