Extract Parts of String from in Between Two Characters

Question

If I have a string like this:

string = "12345|67891|23456|123456?"

how would I take out the "12345" and the "67891", etc (the characters between the pipes) and add them to a list all the way until the question mark (I am using the question mark in my code as a terminating character)?

A similar question has been asked here: How do I find the string between two special characters?

but I think mine is different because I need to do it multiple times in the same, one-line string.

Here is what I am hoping to achieve:

[PROGRAM BEGINS]
>>>string = "12345|67891|23456|123456?"
>>>string_list = []
>>>#some code to extract it and add it to a list called string_list
>>>print string_list
["12345","67891","23456","123456"]
[PROGRAM TERMINATES]

Thanks in advance!!

Are you trying to extract only the digits or the ? should be included as well? — Iron Fist
– Iron Fist, Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 1:55

John La Rooy · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 01:57:05Z

2

If the question mark is always at the end.

>>> string = "12345|67891|23456|123456?"
>>> string.rstrip('?').split('|')
['12345', '67891', '23456', '123456']

regex are relatively slow for performing tasks like this

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 1:57

John La Rooy

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Comments

Joe T. Boka · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 01:52:40Z

1

You don't need to use the question mark:

>>> string = "12345|67891|23456|123456"
>>> string.split('|')
['12345', '67891', '23456', '123456']
>>>

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 1:52

Joe T. Boka

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2 Comments

Joseph Farah Over a year ago

Its says I have to wait nine minutes to mark this as correct...but I will. Thanks!

Joseph Farah Over a year ago

Also, I had the question mark because I thought I was going to need like a for loop or something. XD

Nir Alfasi · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 01:50:54Z

1

You can use regex to split on anything which is not a digit \D:

import re

matches = filter(None, re.split('\D', "12345|67891|23456|123456?"))
print matches # ['12345', '67891', '23456', '123456']

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 1:50

Nir Alfasi

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Comments

Iron Fist · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 01:51:27Z

1

You can do it with re module, this way:

>>>import re
>>>s = "12345|67891|23456|123456?"
>>>string_list = re.findall(r'\d+',s)
>>>string_list
['12345', '67891', '23456', '123456']

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 1:51

Iron Fist

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Comments

JOse_M · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 01:53:29Z

1

You can use the split function. Str.split("|") and assign the result to an array variable.

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 1:53

JOse_M

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Comments

rohithvsm · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 02:22:42Z

1

Considering you are using '?' as a terminating char. The safest way to do this would be:

>>> string = "12345|67891|23456|123456?"
>>> string.split('?')[0].split('|')
['12345', '67891', '23456', '123456']

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 2:22

rohithvsm

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