Manipulate user input for a list

Question

I am putting the user input into a list, but I was wondering how to change the format for how the input is stored in the list, for example:

Code

lst = list(raw_input("Enter message: "))

User Input

ABABABAB

Output

['A', 'B', 'A', 'B', 'A', 'B', 'A', 'B']

Desired Output

['AB', 'AB', 'AB', 'AB']

Use `raw_input("Enter message: ").split()`. Your output is missing spaces though, weird. — Ashwini Chaudhary, Jan 16 '14 at 13:14
The user entered `ABABABAB` then, no spaces, for the output you showed. — Martijn Pieters, Jan 16 '14 at 13:15
@AshwiniChaudhary: There are no spaces in the output, so no spaces were given in the input either.. — Martijn Pieters, Jan 16 '14 at 13:15
By what rule are you splitting the input? groups of 2 letters? or groups of repeating patterns? can you give more samples? What if the input is ABCABCABC what should the output be? — Inbar Rose, Jan 16 '14 at 13:17
My mistake, there are no spaces in the input, if I put spaces they are also included in the list — user1902535, Jan 16 '14 at 13:17
Related: [How do you split a list into evenly sized chunks in Python?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/312443/how-do-you-split-a-list-into-evenly-sized-chunks-in-python) — Ashwini Chaudhary, Jan 16 '14 at 13:17
@InbarRose For that input it should be 'AB', 'CA', 'BC' etc, so groups of 2 letters — user1902535, Jan 16 '14 at 13:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 16 '14 at 13:19

You can use the textwrap module for splitting your string into even sized chunks:

Using your sample of input ABABABABand chunking into groups of 2:

>>> import textwrap
>>> lst = textwrap.wrap(raw_input("Enter message: "), 2)
Enter message: ABABABAB
>>> lst
['AB', 'AB', 'AB', 'AB']

Using the sample I suggested with input ABCABCABC and chunking into groups of 2:

>>> lst = textwrap.wrap(raw_input("Enter message: "), 2)
Enter message: ABCABCABC
>>> lst
['AB', 'CA', 'BC', 'AB', 'C']

Notice how the extra letter is all on it's own.

I can't until 5 minutes has passed, I will then. Thanks again — user1902535, Jan 16 '14 at 13:24

falsetru · Answer 2 · 2014-01-16T13:32:16.150

1

Using list comprehension with range:

>>> user_input = 'ABABABABA' # user_input = raw_input("Enter message: ")
>>> [user_input[i:i+2] for i in range(0, len(user_input), 2)]
['AB', 'AB', 'AB', 'AB', 'A']

edited Jan 16 '14 at 13:32

answered Jan 16 '14 at 13:17

falsetru

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Oops. Sorry :) +1 It works :) Cleaning up the comments – thefourtheye Jan 16 '14 at 13:43

Manipulate user input for a list

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