List in the form of a string into a real list

Question

In Python, what is the most efficient and elegant way to convert string like this:

"(1, 89, 67, 23)"

to a real list? I know, that all elements are integers.

Technically speaking you have a tuple there, not a list, when interpreted as Python literal syntax. — Martijn Pieters, Nov 05 '14 at 08:41
I know, but I need lists. I just got a file formatted like this, no connection to Python syntax. — nekomimi, Nov 05 '14 at 08:53
Then convert to a list; `list(ast.literal_eval(line)))` is the easiest. — Martijn Pieters, Nov 05 '14 at 09:44

Hackaholic · Answer 1 · 2014-11-05T08:46:22.977

1

>>>> a = "(1, 89, 67, 23)"
>>> a.strip('()').split(',')
['1', '89', '67', '23']

using regex:

>>>re.findall('\d+',a)

edited Nov 05 '14 at 08:46

answered Nov 05 '14 at 08:41

Hackaholic

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

1

With regex:

import re
l = [int(i) for i in re.findall(r'(\d+)', "(1, 89, 67, 23)")]
print l

I use the r just for code-highighting for regex. But here is a good explanation for this: What exactly do "u" and "r" string flags do in Python, and what are raw string literals?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

Community

answered Nov 05 '14 at 08:41

Vincent Beltman

what is the r before the pattern for? – nekomimi Nov 05 '14 at 08:58
This won't produce *integers* however; you'll need an additional step to convert. – Martijn Pieters Nov 05 '14 at 09:44
Changed it, is there a faster way? Something within regex? – Vincent Beltman Nov 05 '14 at 09:50

2 Answers2