How do I convert string characters into a list?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to create a list with the characters of a string?

Example:

'abc'

becomes

['a', 'b', 'c']

Is it a combination of split and slicing?

Exact duplicate of [How to create a list with the characters of a string?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/5501641/1142167) — Joel Cornett, May 15 '12 at 23:26

score 66 · Accepted Answer · answered May 15 '12 at 23:25

66

>>> x = 'abc'
>>> list(x)
['a', 'b', 'c']

Not sure what you are trying to do, but you can access individual characters from a string itself:

>>> x = 'abc'
>>> x[1]
'b'

answered May 15 '12 at 23:25

Paolo Bergantino

2

Wow. I tried a bunch of elaborate techniques and it was just one command. Thank you so much. Saved me from a headache. – user1352521 May 15 '12 at 23:26

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered May 15 '12 at 23:41

6

If you need to iterate over the string you do not even need to convert it to a list:

>>> n = 'abc'
>>> for i in n:
...     print i
... 
a
b
c

or

>>> n[1]
'b'

answered May 15 '12 at 23:41

garnertb

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 15 '12 at 23:26

1

yourstring = 'abc'
[char for char in yourstring]

answered May 15 '12 at 23:26

cobie

1

While that _does_ work, it's unnecessarily complex for a simple task. As Paolo wrote, use `list(yourstring)`. – Joel Cornett May 15 '12 at 23:28
I like this one because it uses the intrinsic grammar of the language and not a specialized tool. – Emmanuel Feb 22 '14 at 09:36

3 Answers3