split a string on a character when it's in the middle of the string

Question

I want to split a string on a character when it's in the middle of the string

Example :

string_1 = '-1232-1412'
string_2 = '1234-1243'

I want to have this :

output_string_1 = ['-1232','1412']
output_string_2 = ['1234','1243']

I tried this :

import re
In[1]: re.split(r'\w-',string_1)
Out[1]: ['-123', '1412']

but it deleted the last character before '-'

Do you mean like this? (?!^)-(?!$) regex101.com/r/Ppp5Qg/1 — The fourth bird
– The fourth bird, Commented Jan 9, 2020 at 14:03

The fourth bird · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-09 14:06:32Z

2

One way could be to split the string asserting not the start of the string ^ and after matching - asserting not the end of the string $ using a negative lookahead (?!

(?!^)-(?!$)

Regex demo | Python demo

answered Jan 9, 2020 at 14:06

The fourth bird

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anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2020-01-09 14:17:11Z

2

You may use this regex with word boundaries:

\b-\b

This regex matches hyphen wrapper with word boundaries on either side thus only matching hyphen in the middle of word characters.

Code:

>>> reg = r'\b-\b'
>>> print (re.split(reg, '-1232-1412'))
['-1232', '1412']
>>> print (re.split(reg, '1234-1243'))
['1234', '1243']

RegEx Demo

answered Jan 9, 2020 at 14:17

anubhava

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