Convert array to string

Question

I have a reeeealy huge string, which looks like ['elem1','elem2',(...)] and contains about 100,000(!) elements. What is the best method to change it back to a list?

Um, is it convert to string or convert to array you are looking for? — Codler
– Codler, Commented Jun 30, 2010 at 8:30
Are you sure it is a string and you are not doing something like repr(yourlist)? Care to share some code? — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jun 30, 2010 at 8:36
yes, it is string from text file, which was writed by me - eval works well — pythonina
– pythonina, Commented Jun 30, 2010 at 8:52

K Z · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-22 23:18:17Z

3

eval("['elem1','elem2']") gives you back list ['elem1','elem2']

If you had string looking like this ["elem1","elem2",(...)] you might use json.read() (in python 2.5 or earlier) or json.loads() (in python 2.6) from json module to load it safely.

edited Sep 22, 2012 at 23:18

K Z

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answered Jun 30, 2010 at 8:37

Kamil Szot

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2 Comments

detly Over a year ago

Does the JSON parser distinguish between single- and double-quotes?

Kamil Szot Over a year ago

It seems so. Trying to json.read("['a']") gives json.ReadException: Input is not valid JSON: '['a']'

rocksportrocker · Accepted Answer · 2010-06-30 08:51:38Z

1

One possible solution is:

input = "['elem1', 'elem2' ] "
result_as_list = [ e.strip()[1:-1] for e in input.strip()[1:-1].split(",") ]

This builds the complete result list in memory. You may switch to generator expression

result_as_iterator =  ( e.strip()[1:-1] for e in input.strip()[1:-1].split(",") )

if memory consumption is a concern.

answered Jun 30, 2010 at 8:51

rocksportrocker

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Comments

Gary Kerr · Accepted Answer · 2010-06-30 08:50:34Z

0

If you don't want to use eval, this may work:

big_string = """['oeu','oeu','nth','nthoueoeu']"""

print big_string[1:-2].split("'")[1::2]

answered Jun 30, 2010 at 8:50

Gary Kerr

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