parse a list into variable and sublist - pythonic way

Question

I am parsing a list into a variable and another list with this script:

b=[' 687.3774', ' 478.6', ' 47', ' 58', ' 96.90']
c,d=b[0],b[1:]

It is always the first element that would be separated and this code works fine, however, it repeats the list b on the right hand side. This is not a problem but it does get annoying when my b is something big like line.replace('*',',').replace(' ',',').split(','). This doesn't really look like the pythonic way of writing this down. I have read some posts in this forum and the documentation on tuples and etc but nothing quite did the trick for me. Below are some things that I tried in a "shot in the dark" manner and that obviously didn't work

d=[]
c,d[:]=b
c,list(d)=b
c,d=b[0],[1:]

I am also aware of the b.pop method but I could not find a method to use that without repeating b in the RHS.

Help is appreciated. Thank you.

This question shows one way of doing it in Python 3 - the same way suggest in one of the answers. But not way in Python 2 seems to do want you're asking. — El Bert
– El Bert, Commented Feb 5, 2015 at 11:00

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:28:31Z

2

In Python 3, you can try

c, *d = b

It will assign b[0] to c and the rest to d. You should see this question's answers for an explanation on how the * operator works on sequences.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:28

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 5, 2015 at 10:56

VHarisop

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4 Comments

Igor Hatarist Over a year ago

Note that it's only compatible with python 3. Otherwise I guess adding a new line that covers the whole line.replace ... split() routine isn't a poor choice.

VHarisop Over a year ago

@Igor i was unaware of its compatibility, thanks. I edited the post accordingly.

Igor Hatarist Over a year ago

No problem :) There's also a detailed explanation on extended unpacking: stackoverflow.com/questions/6967632/…. It's a really neat feature in py3k, I wish I used it more :(

TomCho Over a year ago

Thanks for the reading suggestions. Unpacking in py3k is neat. Too bad I can't import that syntax into py2. I guess I'll just add one more line to the code, like @IgorHatarist suggested.

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