i += 1 can be used instead of i = i + 1.
i += 1
i = i + 1
Is there a similar shorthand for string = string.replace(...)?
string = string.replace(...)
No, because there is no built-in syntax for this.
For a string, you can still use +=:
+=
>>> x = "hello" >>> x += " world" >>> x 'hello world'
Because += is defined for strings. There just isn't an assignment operator for replace.