How to quickly parse a list of strings

Question

If I want to split a list of words separated by a delimiter character, I can use

>>> 'abc,foo,bar'.split(',')
['abc', 'foo', 'bar']

But how to easily and quickly do the same thing if I also want to handle quoted-strings which can contain the delimiter character ?

In: 'abc,"a string, with a comma","another, one"'
Out: ['abc', 'a string, with a comma', 'another, one']

Related question: How can i parse a comma delimited string into a list (caveat)?

Tomalak · Accepted Answer · 2010-04-30 16:05:43Z

44

import csv

input = ['abc,"a string, with a comma","another, one"']
parser = csv.reader(input)

for fields in parser:
  for i,f in enumerate(fields):
    print i,f    # in Python 3 and up, print is a function; use: print(i,f)

Result:

0 abc
1 a string, with a comma
2 another, one

edited Apr 30, 2010 at 16:05

answered Dec 1, 2008 at 13:59

Tomalak

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1 Comment

Bite code Over a year ago

Nice one. Smart use of the module :-)

Iuri Guilherme · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-30 18:48:41Z

8

The CSV module should be able to do that for you

edited Apr 30, 2022 at 18:48

Iuri Guilherme

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answered Dec 1, 2008 at 13:53

Greg

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