Convert the formatted string to array in Python

Question

I have the following string

myString = "cat(50),dog(60),pig(70)"

I try to convert the above string to 2D array. The result I want to get is

myResult = [['cat', 50], ['dog', 60], ['pig', 70]]

I already know the way to solve by using the legacy string method but it is quite complicated. So I don't want to use this approach.

# Legacy approach
# 1. Split string by ","
# 2. Run loop and split string by "(" => got the <name of animal>
# 3. Got the number by exclude ")".

Any suggestion would appreciate.

Casimir et Hippolyte · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-27 09:25:31Z

6

You can use the re.findall method:

>>> import re
>>> re.findall(r'(\w+)\((\d+)\)', myString)
[('cat', '50'), ('dog', '60'), ('pig', '70')]

If you want a list of lists as noticed by RomanPerekhrest convert it with a list comprehension:

>>> [list(t) for t in re.findall(r'(\w+)\((\d+)\)', myString)]
[['cat', '50'], ['dog', '60'], ['pig', '70']]

answered Mar 27, 2017 at 9:17

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1 Comment

should be [list(t) for t in re.findall(r'(\w+)\((\d+)\)', myString)]

RomanPerekhrest · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-27 09:39:55Z

2

Alternative solution using re.split() function:

import re
myString = "cat(50),dog(60),pig(70)"
result = [re.split(r'[)(]', i)[:-1] for i in myString.split(',')]

print(result)

The output:

[['cat', '50'], ['dog', '60'], ['pig', '70']]

r'[)(]' - pattern, treats parentheses as delimiters for splitting

[:-1] - slice containing all items except the last one(which is empty space ' ')

answered Mar 27, 2017 at 9:34

RomanPerekhrest

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