Python split text string

Python String split() Method

Split a string into a list where each word is a list item:

txt = «welcome to the jungle»

Definition and Usage

The split() method splits a string into a list.

You can specify the separator, default separator is any whitespace.

Note: When maxsplit is specified, the list will contain the specified number of elements plus one.

Syntax

Parameter Values

Parameter	Description
separator	Optional. Specifies the separator to use when splitting the string. By default any whitespace is a separator
maxsplit	Optional. Specifies how many splits to do. Default value is -1, which is «all occurrences»

More Examples

Example

Split the string, using comma, followed by a space, as a separator:

txt = «hello, my name is Peter, I am 26 years old»

Example

Use a hash character as a separator:

Example

Split the string into a list with max 2 items:

# setting the maxsplit parameter to 1, will return a list with 2 elements!
x = txt.split(«#», 1)

COLOR PICKER

Report Error

If you want to report an error, or if you want to make a suggestion, do not hesitate to send us an e-mail:

Thank You For Helping Us!

Your message has been sent to W3Schools.

Top Tutorials

Top References

Top Examples

Get Certified

W3Schools is optimized for learning and training. Examples might be simplified to improve reading and learning. Tutorials, references, and examples are constantly reviewed to avoid errors, but we cannot warrant full correctness of all content. While using W3Schools, you agree to have read and accepted our terms of use, cookie and privacy policy.

Источник

Python .split() – Splitting a String in Python

Dionysia Lemonaki

In this article, you will learn how to split a string in Python.

Firstly, I’ll introduce you to the syntax of the .split() method. After that, you will see how to use the .split() method with and without arguments, using code examples along the way.

Here is what we will cover:

What Is The .split() Method in Python? .split() Method Syntax Breakdown

You use the .split() method for splitting a string into a list.

The general syntax for the .split() method looks something like the following:

string.split(separator, maxsplit) 

• string is the string you want to split. This is the string on which you call the .split() method.
• The .split() method accepts two arguments.
• The first optional argument is separator , which specifies what kind of separator to use for splitting the string. If this argument is not provided, the default value is any whitespace, meaning the string will split whenever .split() encounters any whitespace.
• The second optional argument is maxsplit , which specifies the maximum number of splits the .split() method should perform. If this argument is not provided, the default value is -1 , meaning there is no limit on the number of splits, and .split() should split the string on all the occurrences it encounters separator .

The .split() method returns a new list of substrings, and the original string is not modified in any way.

How Does The .split() Method Work Without Any Arguments?

Here is how you would split a string into a list using the .split() method without any arguments:

coding_journey = "I am learning to code for free with freeCodecamp!" # split string into a list and save result into a new variable coding_journey_split = coding_journey.split() print(coding_journey) print(coding_journey_split) # check the data type of coding_journey_split by using the type() function print(type(coding_journey_split)) # output # I am learning to code for free with freeCodecamp! # ['I', 'am', 'learning', 'to', 'code', 'for', 'free', 'with', 'freeCodecamp!'] #

The output shows that each word that makes up the string is now a list item, and the original string is preserved.

When you don’t pass either of the two arguments that the .split() method accepts, then by default, it will split the string every time it encounters whitespace until the string comes to an end.

What happens when you don’t pass any arguments to the .split() method, and it encounters consecutive whitespaces instead of just one?

coding_journey = "I love coding" coding_journey_split = coding_journey.split() print(coding_journey_split) # output # ['I', 'love', 'coding'] 

In the example above, I added consecutive whitespaces between the word love and the word coding . When this is the case, the .split() method treats any consecutive spaces as if they are one single whitespace.

How Does The .split() Method Work With The separator Argument?

As you saw earlier, when there is no separator argument, the default value for it is whitespace. That said, you can set a different separator .

The separator will break and divide the string whenever it encounters the character you specify and will return a list of substrings.

For example, you could make it so that a string splits whenever the .split() method encounters a dot, . :

fave_website = "www.freecodecamp.org" fave_website_split = fave_website.split(".") print(fave_website_split) # output # ['www', 'freecodecamp', 'org'] 

In the example above, the string splits whenever .split() encounters a .

Keep in mind that I didn’t specify a dot followed by a space. That wouldn’t work since the string doesn’t contain a dot followed by a space:

fave_website = "www.freecodecamp.org" fave_website_split = fave_website.split(". ") print(fave_website_split) # output # ['www.freecodecamp.org'] 

Now, let’s revisit the last example from the previous section.

When there was no separator argument, consecutive whitespaces were treated as if they were single whitespace.

However, when you specify a single space as the separator , then the string splits every time it encounters a single space character:

coding_journey = "I love coding" coding_journey_split = coding_journey.split(" ") print(coding_journey_split) # output # ['I', 'love', '', '', 'coding'] 

In the example above, each time .split() encountered a space character, it split the word and added the empty space as a list item.

How Does The .split() Method Work With The maxsplit Argument?

When there is no maxsplit argument, there is no specified limit for when the splitting should stop.

In the first example of the previous section, .split() split the string each and every time it encountered the separator until it reached the end of the string.

However, you can specify when you want the split to end.

For example, you could specify that the split ends after it encounters one dot:

fave_website = "www.freecodecamp.org" fave_website_split = fave_website.split(".", 1) print(fave_website_split) # output # ['www', 'freecodecamp.org'] 

In the example above, I set the maxsplit to 1 , and a list was created with two list items.

I specified that the list should split when it encounters one dot. Once it encountered one dot, the operation would end, and the rest of the string would be a list item on its own.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You now know how to split a string in Python using the .split() method.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful.

To learn more about the Python programming language, check out freeCodeCamp’s Python certification.

You’ll start from the basics and learn in an interactive and beginner-friendly way. You’ll also build five projects at the end to put into practice and help reinforce what you’ve learned.

Thank you for reading, and happy coding!

Источник

Python Split String – How to Split a String into a List or Array in Python

Shittu Olumide

In this article, we will walk through a comprehensive guide on how to split a string in Python and convert it into a list or array.

We’ll start by introducing the string data type in Python and explaining its properties. Then we’ll discuss the various ways in which you can split a string using built-in Python methods such as split() , splitlines() , and partition() .

Overall, this article should be a useful resource for anyone looking to split a string into a list in Python, from beginners to experienced programmers.

What is a String in Python?

A string is a group of characters in Python that are encased in single quotes ( ‘ ‘ ) or double quotes ( » » ). This built-in Python data type is frequently used to represent textual data.

Since strings are immutable, they cannot be changed once they have been created. Any action that seems to modify a string actually produces a new string.

Concatenation, slicing, and formatting are just a few of the many operations that you can perform on strings in Python. You can also use strings with a number of built-in modules and functions, including re , str() , and len() .

There’s also a wide range of string operations, including split() , replace() , and strip() , that are available in Python. You can use them to manipulate strings in different ways.

Let’s now learn how to split a string into a list in Python.

How to Split a String into a List Using the split() Method

The split() method is the most common way to split a string into a list in Python. This method splits a string into substrings based on a delimiter and returns a list of these substrings.

myString = "Hello world" myList = myString.split() print(myList) 

In this example, we split the string «Hello world» into a list of two elements, «Hello» and «world» , using the split() method.

How to Split a String into a List Using the splitlines() Method

The splitlines() method is used to split a string into a list of lines, based on the newline character (\n) .

myString = "hello\nworld" myList = myString.splitlines() print(myList) 

In this example, we split the string «hello\nworld» into a list of two elements, «hello» and «world» , using the splitlines() method.

How to Split a String into a List Using Regular Expressions with the re Module

The re module in Python provides a powerful way to split strings based on regular expressions.

import re myString = "hello world" myList = re.split('\s', myString) print(myList) 

In this example, we split the string «hello world» into a list of two elements, «hello» and «world» , using a regular expression that matches any whitespace character (\s) .

How to Split a String into a List Using the partition() Method

The partition() method splits a string into three parts based on a separator and returns a tuple containing these parts. The separator itself is also included in the tuple.

myString = "hello:world" myList = myString.partition(':') print(myList) 

In this example, we split the string «hello:world» into a tuple of three elements, «hello» , «:» , and «world» , using the partition() method.

Note: The most common method for splitting a string into a list or array in Python is to use the split() method. This method is available for any string object in Python and splits the string into a list of substrings based on a specified delimiter.

When to Use Each Method

So here’s an overview of these methods and when to use each one for quick reference:

1. split() : This is the most common method for splitting a text into a list. You can use this method when you want to split the text into words or substrings based on a specific delimiter, such as a space, comma, or tab.
2. partition() : This method splits a text into three parts based on the first occurrence of a delimiter. You can use this method when you want to split the text into two parts and keep the delimiter. For example, you might use partition() to split a URL into its protocol, domain, and path components. The partition() method returns a tuple of three strings.
3. splitlines() : This method splits a text into a list of strings based on the newline characters ( \n ). You can use this method when you want to split a text into lines of text. For example, you might use splitlines() to split a multiline string into individual lines.
4. Regular expressions: This is a more powerful method for splitting text into a list, as it allows you to split the text based on more complex patterns. For example, you might use regular expressions to split a text into sentences, based on the presence of punctuation marks. The re module in Python provides a range of functions for working with regular expressions.

Conclusion

These are some of the most common methods to split a string into a list or array in Python. Depending on your specific use case, one method may be more appropriate than the others.

Let’s connect on Twitter and on LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.

Источник