Python. how to convert the words inside two characters to a list

Question

I want a way to create a list out of strings that appear in-between a specific character, in this case ` <-- that

so for example this string:

string = '<#346283347234774> **Useless text that I want to remove**
more useless text it is useless, so useless.
`potato`, `boxes`, `christmas tree`'

becomes this list

list = ['potato', 'boxes', 'christmas tree']

I've tried using regex but I would rather something readable to a total noob that i'll be able to understand when i come back to the code to update it at a later date.

Sorry if this is painfully simple, i'm really new to Python and programming in general.

This answer might help https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37372603/how-to-remove-specific-substrings-from-a-set-of-strings-in-python — Salma Elshahawy, Dec 20 '20 at 12:38

U13-Forward · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-20T12:49:55.053

0

Try using re.findall:

print(re.findall('`([\w+ ]*)`', string))

Output:

['potato', 'boxes', 'christmas tree']

Explanation:

In the above, I have :

On both sides of the expression. that just helps to try to match the group since you want the text between those two signs. Whatever is inside the parenthesis gets extracted by the findall function. In the parenthesis we have \w+ which gets the characters inside the two signs, then we have an extra space so that it will also match the space between 'christmas tree', then the * matches everything.

Here is a link for more explanation.

edited Dec 20 '20 at 12:49

answered Dec 20 '20 at 12:36

U13-Forward

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If you could please explain in brief what happens in the above ```findall()``` function that would be really helpful. – Stan11 Dec 20 '20 at 12:41
The `+` in the character group means you actually look for the literal `+` symbol. Slightly simpler and more efficient: `\`([^\`]*)\`` – Tomerikoo Dec 20 '20 at 12:43
@Tomerikoo I edited it check it out. – U13-Forward Dec 20 '20 at 12:47
You added an explanation... The `+` is still not necessary (unless you expect the `+` symbol as part of the words) – Tomerikoo Dec 20 '20 at 12:48
@Tomerikoo Anyway I kept it in there, also check my regex101 link – U13-Forward Dec 20 '20 at 12:50
This worked, thanks! Its frustrating staring at regex101 explaining everything perfectly but still not understanding it though! – Ben Dec 20 '20 at 13:04
@Ben Haha, no problem – U13-Forward Dec 20 '20 at 13:05

Python. how to convert the words inside two characters to a list

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