Create list of lists from file python

Question

I'm new to python, I'm trying to create a list of lists from a text file. The task seems easy to do but I don't know why it's not working with my code.

I have the following lines in my text file:

word1,word2,word3,word4
word2,word3,word1
word4,word5,word6

I want to get the following output:

[['word1','word2','word3','word4'],['word2','word3','word1'],['word4','word5','word6']]

The following is the code I tried:

mylist =[]
list =[]
with open("file.txt") as f:
    for line in f:
        mylist = line.strip().split(',')
        list.append(mylist)

Your code works fine for me (although mylist =[] is useless, and you really shouldn't use list as a variable name). Don't you get the desired output when you print list? — PM 2Ring
– PM 2Ring, Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 15:58
@MedAli It's certainly good advice to not use list as a variable name, but it's not a reserved word, otherwise it would be a syntax error to use it as a variable name (try using for, while, or from as variable names). list is the name of a built-in class, and you are free to redefine it if you really want to, but generally that's not a good idea. — PM 2Ring
– PM 2Ring, Commented Sep 29, 2017 at 16:01

cs95 · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-29 15:52:49Z

2

You can iterate like this:

f = [i.strip('\n').split(',') for i in open('file.txt')]

edited Sep 29, 2017 at 15:52

cs95

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answered Sep 29, 2017 at 15:49

Ajax1234

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3 Comments

cs95 Over a year ago

You should consider extending your answer to add a with open('file.txt') as f... it's good practice :-)

Mow1993 Over a year ago

This still doesn't give me the output I'm looking for :(

Ajax1234 Over a year ago

@Mow1993 please post the output you are receiving currently.

Aaditya Ura · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-29 16:20:39Z

0

Your code works fine, if your code creating issues in your system then if you want you can do this in one line with this :

with open("file.txt") as f:
    print([i.strip().split(',') for i in f])

answered Sep 29, 2017 at 16:20

Aaditya Ura

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