Does python have a better way to split a string than converting to a list?

Question

I am testing a set of web apis, using python, a language I am still in the process of learning. I am taking in a string, the name of a dealer, and chopping off the end after a random number of characters. I am then adding a character (wild card) to then end of the string. That modified string is then passed to an api that searches for the name of a dealer, and can include wild cards. I have the code below, but it seems long. Is there a cleaner looking, or more pythonic way of approaching this problem? Potentially a way to do this without converting from a string, to a list, back to a string?

split_name = list(name)     #turns name string into list
rand = random.randint(6,(len(split_name)-1))    #generates random number
split_name[rand:len(split_name)] = []       #breaks of end part of name list
srch_name = ''.join(split_name)     #stringifies list
#Send request
rqst = requests.get(name_srch %(key, (srch_name + '*'))) #this adds * and sends the request

Name is earlier defined in the script to be some string, such as "Dave and Bills equipment sales and service, INC" I should note I am using python 2.7

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-24 21:21:17Z

2

Yes, use slicing to pick a random number of characters from the string, no need to split it into a list first:

rand = random.randint(6, len(split_name) - 1)
search_name = name[rand:] + '*'
rqst = requests.get(name_srch % (key, search_name))

Strings are sequences too and support slicing directly without needing to turn it into a list first. You can omit the end-point, slicing defaults to the end of the string in that case.

edited Jul 24, 2013 at 21:21

answered Jul 24, 2013 at 20:56

Martijn Pieters

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3 Comments

2rs2ts Over a year ago

In response to your original answer: it should be noted that string.split() is around twice as fast as list(string).

Martijn Pieters Over a year ago

@2rs2ts: but the .split() does something completely different.

user2616239 Over a year ago

Thanks Martijn, this is a better solution. At some point I have to search for partialwordpartialword. With the method you have shown that becomes much easier than my code (i won't paste here, it looks terrible), as its just 'search_name = name[:rand1] + "" + name[rand2:]' with the rands appropriately calculated. @2rs2ts, I had thought about using 'string.split()' but didn't see a need to only insert the wildcard between whole words. Out of curiosity, why would it be about twice as fast? Just because it's creating a smaller list?

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