Python: Splitting a string into elements and adding them in a list

Question

I've a list with only one element, which in itself is a list of elements.

str = '"MARY","PATRICIA","LINDA","BARBARA","ELIZABETH","JENNIFER","MARIA","SUSAN","MARGARET","DOROTHY","LISA","NANCY","KAREN","BETTY","HELEN","SANDRA","DONNA","CAROL"'

Now, I want each individual name in that string to included in another list. For that, I understand that I have to split each name individually and then append them with the desired list. Here's the code I wrote for the same:

str = '"MARY","PATRICIA","LINDA","BARBARA","ELIZABETH","JENNIFER","MARIA","SUSAN","MARGARET","DOROTHY","LISA","NANCY","KAREN","BETTY","HELEN","SANDRA","DONNA","CAROL"'
li = str.split()
c = li[0]
ip = []
start = c.find('"')
final = c.find('"', start+1)
def iter(start, final):
    e = c[start+1:final]
    ip.append(e)
nstart = c.find('"', final+1)
nfinal = c.find('"', nstart+1)
if(nstart == -1 or nfinal == -1):
    print ip
else:
    iter(nstart, nfinal)

However, I don't get anything as output. 'ip' is the list where I intend to store all the names, individually. What seems to be the problem with my code?

Where did this string come from? That looks a lot like a row of a CSV file. — DSM
– DSM, Commented Apr 5, 2014 at 23:00
The point is that if it's a CSV file, there's an entire built-in module designed to read them. — DSM
– DSM, Commented Apr 6, 2014 at 17:59

merlin2011 · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-05 22:58:45Z

2

Your code is far more complex than necessary. You could use the comment, or do:

foo = '"MARY","PATRICIA","LINDA","BARBARA","ELIZABETH","JENNIFER","MARIA","SUSAN","MARGARET","DOROTHY","LISA","NANCY","KAREN","BETTY","HELEN","SANDRA","DONNA","CAROL"'
output = foo.replace('"','').split(",")

answered Apr 5, 2014 at 22:58

merlin2011

76.5k48 gold badges218 silver badges364 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

DSM · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-05 23:09:05Z

2

First, calling something str is bad, as str is a builtin function in python.

Second, you can do it with the following:

in_list_string = '"MARY","PATRICIA","LINDA","BARBARA","ELIZABETH","JENNIFER","MARIA","SUSAN","MARGARET","DOROTHY","LISA","NANCY","KAREN","BETTY","HELEN","SANDRA","DONNA","CAROL"'
out_list= [element.strip('"') for element in in_list_string.split(',')]

edited Apr 5, 2014 at 23:09

DSM

355k67 gold badges606 silver badges504 bronze badges

answered Apr 5, 2014 at 22:58

aruisdante

9,1652 gold badges36 silver badges38 bronze badges

Comments

dawg · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-13 15:41:50Z

2

Use the csv module for csv data:

>>> import csv
>>> from StringIO import StringIO
>>> dont_call_me_str='"MARY","PATRICIA","LINDA","BARBARA","ELIZABETH","JENNIFER","MARIA","SUSAN","MARGARET","DOROTHY","LISA","NANCY","KAREN","BETTY","HELEN","SANDRA","DONNA","CAROL"'
>>> list(csv.reader(StringIO(dont_call_me_str)))
[['MARY', 'PATRICIA', 'LINDA', 'BARBARA', 'ELIZABETH', 'JENNIFER', 'MARIA', 'SUSAN', 'MARGARET', 'DOROTHY', 'LISA', 'NANCY', 'KAREN', 'BETTY', 'HELEN', 'SANDRA', 'DONNA', 'CAROL']]

edited Apr 13, 2014 at 15:41

answered Apr 5, 2014 at 23:37

dawg

105k24 gold badges142 silver badges217 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Python: Splitting a string into elements and adding them in a list

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related