python: conditional statement with else statement in loop

Question

How would I be able to make this if statement more efficient?

        if ',' in my_string:
            my_string = my_string.split(',', 1)[0]
            return ', '
        elif '.' in my_string:
            my_string = my_string.split('.', 1)[0]
            return '. '
        elif '?' in my_string:
            my_string = my_string.split('?', 1)[0]
            return '? '
        elif '!' in my_string:
            my_string = my_string.split('!', 1)[0]
            return '! '
        elif ';' in my_string:
            my_string = my_string.split(';', 1)[0]
            return '; '
        else:    
            self.qstring = my_string
            return None

I could make a list like:

my_list = [',', '.', '?', '!', ';']

and loop through, but I'm not sure how to still use the else statement if I put it all in a loop. Any thoughts?

Presumably my_string is preserved somewhere? As your code stands, there is no point in assigning to my_string, or even splitting the text, as you return immediately after the split and are thus discarding my_string. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 15:02

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 14:59:12Z

2

Loop over the list you have:

for delim in my_list:
    if delim in my_string:
        my_string = my_string.split(delim, 1)[0]
        return delim + ' '

self.qstring = my_string
return None

Because the loop will return the part after the loop is not executed if any delimiter matched.

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 14:59

Martijn Pieters

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Comments

Ofir Israel · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 15:12:24Z

1

Use re:

import re

(mystring, delim) = re.split(r'([,\.\?;] )', mystring, 1)[:2]
return delim

edited Sep 6, 2013 at 15:12

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 15:03

Ofir Israel

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2 Comments

jpm Over a year ago

I like the re approach, but it looks like OP wants to preserve the match and return it.

jpm Over a year ago

Do . and ? need to be escaped inside a character class?

kindall · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-06 15:00:21Z

0

Remove all the assignments to my_string. Since this is a local variable, this achieves nothing because the value is never returned.

answered Sep 6, 2013 at 15:00

kindall

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