How can I split this string in Python?

Question

I have a variable string.

string = '''Layer:defaultRenderLayer
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here
Line 3 text goes here
Layer:diffuse
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here
Line 3 text goes here
Line 4 text goes here
Line 5 text goes here
Layer:outline
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here'''

I'm trying to split the string before the text Layer like below.

string_list = [
    'Layer:defaultRenderLayer\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here',
    'Layer:diffuse\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here\nLine 4 text goes here\nLine 5 text goes here',
    'Layer:outline\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here'
]

Remi Guan · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-28 05:26:30Z

6

import re
print re.split(r"\n(?=Layer)",x)

You can use lookahead with re here to achieve the same.

Output:

['Layer:defaultRenderLayer\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here', 
 'Layer:diffuse\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here\nLine 4 text goes here\nLine 5 text goes here', 
 'Layer:outline\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here']

Or you can also use re.findall.

print re.findall(r"\bLayer\b[\s\S]*?(?=\nLayer\b|$)",x

See Demo

edited Oct 28, 2015 at 5:26

Remi Guan

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answered Oct 28, 2015 at 5:11

vks

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Comments

Avinash Raj · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-28 05:11:00Z

3

You need to use re.split

re.split(r'\s+(?=Layer:)', string)

This would do splitting on one or more space characters which exists just before to the string Layer:. And note that \s would match any kind of space character, ie vertical (newline,carrage return) as well as horizontal space character (whitespace,tabs).

Example:

>>> import re
>>> string = '''Layer:defaultRenderLayer
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here
Line 3 text goes here
Layer:diffuse
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here
Line 3 text goes here
Line 4 text goes here
Line 5 text goes here
Layer:outline
Line 1 text goes here
Line 2 text goes here'''
>>> re.split(r'\s+(?=Layer:)', string)
['Layer:defaultRenderLayer\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here', 'Layer:diffuse\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here\nLine 3 text goes here\nLine 4 text goes here\nLine 5 text goes here', 'Layer:outline\nLine 1 text goes here\nLine 2 text goes here']

answered Oct 28, 2015 at 5:11

Avinash Raj

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2 Comments

sumit-sampang-rai Over a year ago

How can I achieve the same process using re.findall?

Avinash Raj Over a year ago

try re.findall(r'(?s).+?(?=\bLayer:|$)', string)

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