Convert string to array of strings using python

Question

I have a string like "['apple' 'bat' 'cat']".
The string need to convert into array like:['apple','bat','cat']

`['apple' 'bat' 'cat']` isn't a valid object in python, so you can't have that as starting point. You need to be precise in your questions. What's the starting object? The string `"['apple' 'bat' 'cat']"` or the array `['apple', 'bat', 'cat']`? — dirkgroten, Feb 02 '23 at 14:30
So, this is a string "['apple' 'bat' 'cat']" and I want to convert this to array ['apple', 'bat', 'cat'] — Anonymous, Feb 02 '23 at 14:32
So generally you want to convert a string of a literal to the equivalent value of the literal? — MisterMiyagi, Feb 02 '23 at 14:39

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 02 '23 at 14:46

1

remove the first [ and last ] elements of your string

then split the remaining string into their elements

Iterate then each element and remove the opening and closing quote (first and last element)

Merge everything in a list comprehension

my_string = "['apple' 'bat' 'cat']"
result = [i[1:-1] for i in my_string[1:-1].split(' ')]
print(result)

['apple', 'bat', 'cat']

answered Feb 02 '23 at 14:46

Sembei Norimaki

Note that this fails if an element contains a space. – MisterMiyagi Feb 02 '23 at 14:48

1 Answers1