changeset: 76849:d3ddbad31b3e branch: 2.7 parent: 76846:a775fc27f469 user: Ezio Melotti date: Wed May 09 14:59:24 2012 +0300 files: Doc/library/string.rst description: #14763: fix documentation for string.split/rsplit. diff -r a775fc27f469 -r d3ddbad31b3e Doc/library/string.rst --- a/Doc/library/string.rst Wed May 09 13:24:31 2012 +0200 +++ b/Doc/library/string.rst Wed May 09 14:59:24 2012 +0300 @@ -905,14 +905,15 @@ Return a list of the words of the string *s*. If the optional second argument *sep* is absent or ``None``, the words are separated by arbitrary strings of - whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, return, formfeed). If the second + whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, return, formfeed). If the second argument *sep* is present and not ``None``, it specifies a string to be used as the word separator. The returned list will then have one more item than the - number of non-overlapping occurrences of the separator in the string. The - optional third argument *maxsplit* defaults to 0. If it is nonzero, at most - *maxsplit* number of splits occur, and the remainder of the string is returned - as the final element of the list (thus, the list will have at most - ``maxsplit+1`` elements). + number of non-overlapping occurrences of the separator in the string. + If *maxsplit* is given, at most *maxsplit* number of splits occur, and the + remainder of the string is returned as the final element of the list (thus, + the list will have at most ``maxsplit+1`` elements). If *maxsplit* is not + specified or ``-1``, then there is no limit on the number of splits (all + possible splits are made). The behavior of split on an empty string depends on the value of *sep*. If *sep* is not specified, or specified as ``None``, the result will be an empty list. @@ -925,7 +926,7 @@ Return a list of the words of the string *s*, scanning *s* from the end. To all intents and purposes, the resulting list of words is the same as returned by :func:`split`, except when the optional third argument *maxsplit* is explicitly - specified and nonzero. When *maxsplit* is nonzero, at most *maxsplit* number of + specified and nonzero. If *maxsplit* is given, at most *maxsplit* number of splits -- the *rightmost* ones -- occur, and the remainder of the string is returned as the first element of the list (thus, the list will have at most ``maxsplit+1`` elements).