Multiple splits on a single line in Python

Question

I would like to know if there is a more compact (or Pythonic) way of doing several splits of some input string. Now I'm doing:

[a,bc,de] = 'a,b:c,d/e'.split(',')
[b,c] = bc.split(':')
[d,e] = de.split('/')

this would be cool: `[a,[b,c],[d,e]]=[a,@.split(":"),@.split("/")] = 'a,b:c,d/e'.split(',')`. don't think there's another way though — Claudiu, Jun 30 '11 at 20:52

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 30 '11 at 20:53

8

I'd use the regular expression library. You don't need to use lists for unpacking, you can use tuples as below.

import re
regex = re.compile(r'[,:/]')
a, b, c, d, e = regex.split('a,b:c,d/e')

answered Jun 30 '11 at 20:53

Ryan

what is the performance on this? i'm reading rather large files – Josep Valls Jul 03 '11 at 22:36
I don't recall. Test and check if it's sufficient :) – Ryan Jul 04 '11 at 00:22

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

1

You're better of with regex split method probably. Don't do this, it will be crazy slow, but just to add the answer:

a,b,c,d,e = flatten( (x.split(',') for x in y.split(':')) for y in z.split('/')  )

(flatten left as an exercise for the reader (see flatten))

edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

Community

answered Jun 30 '11 at 20:59

viraptor

2 Answers2