Standard Gems: shlex.split()

str.split() is so well known, but a simple step beyond leaves a lot of pythonistas lost: how do you split without breaking up embedded strings? How do you split "1 '2 3' 4" into ['1', '2 3', '4']? Why, shlex.split("1 '2 3' 4"), of course! The shlex module is a lexical analyzer and includes this little useful utility for us.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Thanks! I needed to do this just this week! I wound up using a re.split(), but this is obviously better.

larry

7:53 AM

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