Python String Split() Method

Python string split() function is used to split a string into the list of strings based on a delimiter.

Python string split() function syntax

str.split(sep=None, maxsplit=-1)

sep argument is used as the delimiter. If the string contains consecutive delimiters, then an empty string is returned. Delimiter argument can be of multiple characters too.

If the delimiter is not provided or None, then whitespaces are considered as the delimiter. In this case, no empty string will be returned in case there are leading or trailing white spaces. Also, multiple whitespaces will be considered as a single delimiter.

If maxsplit is provided, at most maxsplit splits are done (thus, the list will have at most maxsplit+1 elements). If maxsplit is not specified or -1, then there is no limit on the number of splits and all possible splits are returned in the list.

Python String split() example

Let’s look at a simple example where a string will be split into a list based on the specified delimiter.

s = 'Python is Nice'

# simple string split example
str_list = s.split(sep=' ')
print(str_list)

Output:

['Python', 'is', 'Nice']

String split() with maxsplit example

s = 'Python is Nice'

str_list = s.split(sep=' ', maxsplit=1)
print(str_list)

Output: ['Python', 'is Nice']

Notice that returned list has only 2 items, the string was split only once.

sep is not provided or None

s = '  Java  Python iOS    Android  '
str_list = s.split()
print(str_list)

Output: ['Java', 'Python', 'iOS', 'Android']

The leading and trailing whitespaces are ignored in the returned list. Also, consecutive whitespaces are also considered as a single delimiter.

Multiline string split example

multiline_str = 'Hi There\nHow are you?\nI am fine'
multiline_str_split_list = multiline_str.split(sep='\n')
for s in multiline_str_split_list:
    print(s)

Output:

Hi There
How are you?
I am fine

Multi-Character separator example

s = 'Hi||Hello||Adios'
str_list = s.split('||')
print(str_list)

Output: ['Hi', 'Hello', 'Adios']

str.split() function example

We can use split() function directly from str class too.

print(str.split('ABACAD', sep='A'))
print(str.split('ABACAD', sep='A', maxsplit=2))

Output:

['', 'B', 'C', 'D']
['', 'B', 'CAD']

Notice that empty string is returned when the first character matches the separator.

CSV String Split Example with User Input

Finally, let’s look at a real-life example where the user will enter the CSV data and we will split it into the list of strings.

input_csv = input('Please enter CSV Data\n')
input_csv_split_list = input_csv.split(sep=',')
print('Input Data Length =', len(input_csv_split_list))
print('List of inputs =', input_csv_split_list)

Output:

Please enter CSV Data
Java,Android,Python,iOS,jQuery
Input Data Length = 5
List of inputs = ['Java', 'Android', 'Python', 'iOS', 'jQuery']

That’s all for python string split() function examples. It’s a very useful function to split a string into the list based on some delimiter.

Python String rsplit()

Python string rsplit() function is very similar to split() function. The only difference is that the splits are done starting at the end of the string and working to the front.

Let’s look at some of the rsplit() function examples.

# rsplit() example
s = 'Python is Awesome'
str_list = s.rsplit(sep=' ')
print(str_list)

str_list = s.rsplit(sep=' ', maxsplit=1)
print(str_list)

s = '  Java  Python iOS    Android  '
str_list = s.rsplit()
print(str_list)

multiline_str = 'Hi There\nHow are you?\nI am fine'
multiline_str_split_list = multiline_str.rsplit(sep='\n')
for s in multiline_str_split_list:
    print(s)

s = 'Hi||Hello||Adios'
str_list = s.rsplit('||')
print(str_list)

# using split() with str class
print(str.rsplit('ABACAD', sep='A'))
print(str.rsplit('ABACAD', sep='A', maxsplit=2))

# csv and user input example
input_csv = input('Please enter CSV Data\n')
input_csv_split_list = input_csv.rsplit(sep=',')
print('Input Data Length =', len(input_csv_split_list))
print('List of inputs =', input_csv_split_list)

Output:

['Python', 'is', 'Awesome']
['Python is', 'Awesome']
['Java', 'Python', 'iOS', 'Android']
Hi There
How are you?
I am fine
['Hi', 'Hello', 'Adios']
['', 'B', 'C', 'D']
['AB', 'C', 'D']
Please enter CSV Data
x,y,z
Input Data Length = 3
List of inputs = ['x', 'y', 'z']

Notice that the difference is visible when maxsplit argument is provided. Otherwise, the split() and rsplit() function output is same.