TypeError: expected a character buffer object # when i split

Question

Here is my code:

def split_string(source,splitlist):
    sl = list(splitlist)
    new = source.split(sl)
    return new

When i run it:

print split_string("This is a test-of the,string separation-code!"," ,!-")

I have the following error:

new = source.split(sl)
TypeError: expected a character buffer object

How can I fix this?

Note: first i want to make a list from splitlist than i want split source with every element in my sl list.

Thanks.

possible duplicate of [Python strings split with multiple separators](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1059559/python-strings-split-with-multiple-separators) — ilent2, Sep 16 '13 at 14:56

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 16 '13 at 14:56

2

The argument to str.split must be a string, not a list of possible separators.

answered Sep 16 '13 at 14:56

chepner

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score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 16 '13 at 14:57

I guess you're looking for something like

import re
def multisplit(s, delims):
    delims = '|'.join(re.escape(x) for x in delims)
    return re.split(delims, s)

print multisplit('a.b-c!d', '.-!') # ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']

str.split doesn't accept a list of separators, although I wish it did, just like endswith.

ilent2 · Answer 3 · 2013-09-16T15:23:03.357

0

With no additional libraries you could do:

def split_string(source,splitlist):
    ss = list(source)
    sl = list(splitlist)
    new = ''.join([o if not o in sl else ' ' for o in ss]).split()
    return new

edited Sep 16 '13 at 15:23

answered Sep 16 '13 at 15:02

ilent2

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TypeError: expected a character buffer object # when i split

3 Answers3