After I assign a string to a variable, I know that the print function will remove the single quotes around the value, but is there a way to assign a variable without the quotes around the value?

for example:

a = open('/usr/lib', 'r+')
b = f.read()
c = x.replace('.xx','yy')
d = ?

c returns the value with quotes around it
print c returns the value without the quotes

Is there a way to assign a new variable (d) which will equal c without the quotes? I need a new variable which has the quotes omitted because from there the script will take the value of the last variable (which is a path to a file), and tar up that file. It won't recognize the path to the file if the value has quotes around it.
If not, what's an alternative?

Yes.

You are confused about what Python is doing. Therefore, please read this:

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/inputoutput.html

Entering "c" in the interpreter prints out the result of repr(c). Entering "print c" in the interpreter prints out the result of str(c).