string to list conversion in python

Question

I have a string.

s = '1989, 1990'

I want to convert that to list using python & i want output as,

s = ['1989', '1990']

Is there any fastest one liner way for the same?

• mechanical_meat: possible duplicate of How do I split a string into a list Python?

Answer 1

Use list comprehensions:

s = '1989, 1990'
[x.strip() for x in s.split(',')]

Short and easy.

Additionally, this has been asked many times!

• Gareth Latty: This is a much better answer - replacing all spaces could affect the data, stripping the split items is a much better idea.

Answer 2

Use the split method:

>>> '1989, 1990'.split(', ')
['1989', '1990']

But you might want to:

1. remove spaces using replace

2. split by ','

As such:

>>> '1989, 1990,1991'.replace(' ', '').split(',')
['1989', '1990', '1991']

This will work better if your string comes from user input, as the user may forget to hit space after a comma.

• self: "This will work better if your string comes from user input, as the user may forget to hit space after a comma." thats helpful.
• jpic: Thank you for your feedback, please don't forget to close the question when you are done. This will save time from others who are reading unanswered questions to find someone with an unsolved issue to help

Answer 3

Call the split function:

myList = s.split(', ')

Answer 4

print s.replace(' ','').split(',')

First removes spaces, then splits by comma.

Answer 5

Or you can use regular expressions:

>>> import re
>>> re.split(r"\s*,\s*", "1999,2000, 1999 ,1998 , 2001")
['1999', '2000', '1999', '1998', '2001']

The expression \s*,\s* matches zero or more whitespace characters, a comma and zero or more whitespace characters again.

Answer 6

i created generic method for this :

def convertToList(v):
 '''
 @return: input is converted to a list if needed
 '''
 if type(v) is list:
 return v
 elif v == None:
 return []
 else:
 return [v]

Maybe it is useful for your project.

converToList(s)