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This is the result when I apply split() against an empty string with default delimiter and with a " " as delimiter in Python. 

>>> print(" ".split(" "))
['','']
>>> print(" ".split())
[]

Can somebody please explain?

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  • 1
    In both Python 2 and Python 3 "".split(" ") returns a list of only one empty string. Please double check your results. Commented Jul 22, 2018 at 18:58
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    what's unclear with the documentation? Commented Jul 22, 2018 at 18:58
  • 2
    Could not reproduce print "".split(" "). Moreover, it looks like Python 2.x, why do you have Python-3.x tag? Commented Jul 22, 2018 at 18:58

1 Answer 1

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The documentation on str.split explicitly mentions the different behavior if you split with no argument and when you use ' ' as argument:

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

[...]

If sep is given, consecutive delimiters are not grouped together and are deemed to delimit empty strings (for example, '1,,2'.split(',') returns ['1', '', '2']). The sep argument may consist of multiple characters (for example, '1<>2<>3'.split('<>') returns ['1', '2', '3']). Splitting an empty string with a specified separator returns [''].

[...]

If sep is not specified or is None, a different splitting algorithm is applied: runs of consecutive whitespace are regarded as a single separator, and the result will contain no empty strings at the start or end if the string has leading or trailing whitespace. Consequently, splitting an empty string or a string consisting of just whitespace with a None separator returns [].

(Emphasis mine)

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