Python split string ignoring \"

Question

A file contains lines like this:

'MEASUREMENT machine.b_runs "Bit \"machine runs\" Bit"'

What I want is to split it into a list which is like:

list = ['\'MEASUREMENT', 'machine.b_runs', 'Bit \"machine runs\" Bit']

So that the line is split by ' ' except the words between double quotes, by ignoring \"

How do I do this in python?

You can split a string with a regular expression and remove the delimiters: stackoverflow.com/questions/4697006/… — Anderson Green
– Anderson Green, Commented Nov 19, 2015 at 8:46
is there any possiblity of your strin like \"\\"Bit \"machine runs\" Bit" ? — Avinash Raj
– Avinash Raj, Commented Nov 19, 2015 at 8:46
Your example string should end with a single quote. Our start with a double quote. — ferdy
– ferdy, Commented Nov 19, 2015 at 8:58

vks · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-19 09:00:19Z

1

x=r'MEASUREMENT machine.b_runs "Bit \"machine runs\" Bit"'
print re.split(r'\s(?=(?:(?:[^"]|\\")*(?<!\\)"(?:[^"]|\\")*(?<!\\)")*(?:[^"]|\\")*$)',x)

You can try something like this.

Output:['MEASUREMENT', 'machine.b_runs', '"Bit \\"machine runs\\" Bit"']

answered Nov 19, 2015 at 9:00

vks

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2 Comments

Can you maybe explain, what r'\s(?=(?:(?:[^"]|\\")*(?<!\\)"(?:[^"]|\\")*(?<!\\)")*(?:[^"]|\\")*$)' does?

@Itaipu Its a lookahead stating find a space which has a pair of " ahead of it. The " should not have \ before it