Split string with double quotes into list

Question

I have to split a string into list. The input is as follows:

data = '''00402,
"0042 01,5",5
0042 02,3
"0042 02,5",1
"0042 05,5",4
"0042 05,5X05,5",7'''

The expected output is as follows:

['00402'],['0042 01,5', '5'],['0042 02', '3'],['0042 02,5', '1'],['0042 05,5', '4'],['0042 05,5X05,5', '7']

What I have tried to do so far is here:

temp_lines = filter(lambda x: x != '', data.split('\n'))
lines = []
for line in temp_lines:
    lines.append(re.split(';|,|\*|\t', line.replace("\r", "")))

print lines

This has not produced the required output. Please help with this.

I got this [['00402', ''], ['"0042 01', '5"', '5'], ['0042 02', '3'], ['"0042 02', '5"', '1'], ['"0042 05', '5"', '4'], ['"0042 05', '5X05', '5"', '7']] — Jothimani, Apr 28 '16 at 08:46
That is what you want if i'm right? It looks exactly the same as your expected output. Please correct me if i am wrong — Sven Hakvoort, Apr 28 '16 at 08:47
Possible duplicate of [How to split but ignore separators in quoted strings, in python?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2785755/how-to-split-but-ignore-separators-in-quoted-strings-in-python) — styvane, Apr 28 '16 at 08:52

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 28 '16 at 08:52

The csv module can help you here:

>>> import csv
>>> data = '''00402,
... "0042 01,5",5
... 0042 02,3
... "0042 02,5",1
... "0042 05,5",4
... "0042 05,5X05,5",7'''
>>> result = list(csv.reader(data.splitlines()))
>>> result
[['00402', ''], ['0042 01,5', '5'], ['0042 02', '3'], ['0042 02,5', '1'], ['0042 05,5', '4'], ['0042 05,5X05,5', '7']]

The only problem is the empty string in the first sublist because the first line of data has a weird format not following the format of the other lines. If empty fields are bothering you, filter them out:

>>> [[x for x in sub if x] for sub in result]
[['00402'], ['0042 01,5', '5'], ['0042 02', '3'], ['0042 02,5', '1'], ['0042 05,5', '4'], ['0042 05,5X05,5', '7']]

Split string with double quotes into list

1 Answers1