How to use any item in a list as a split value in Python?

Question

I want to do something to the effect of:

x = [" ","cats"]
def function(a):
     a.split([any of the elements in x])
     return a

How would I make Python accept any of the elements in x as an argument (so it splits as spaces and cats)?

Edit: Sorry, I should have probably specified: a is expected to be a list

(I'm really, really sorry for not being clear.)

input - a = "I love cats so much" expected output - ["I" , "love","so" , "much"]

Basically, I want it to perform the split function for " " and then for "cats".

split is a string method and not available for integers as in `x`. — too honest for this site, Apr 27 '15 at 01:39
Do you want it to look like this? [' ','c','a','t','s']? As in you split the elements of the strings up, and return a collectively split string? Please give an example of what you are intending to do. — ProfOak, Apr 27 '15 at 01:45
Please edit your question to have examples of expected input and output beahvior. As it is I have no clue what you want. — Mark Tolonen, Apr 27 '15 at 01:47
Ok, you edited, but what exactly do you mean by "split" then? The string-method "split" would return an empty list for " " and does not change `x[1]`. Please define exactly(!) what split actually should do and provide an example for a. Also, a sample result would be very helpful. — too honest for this site, Apr 27 '15 at 01:49
In another comment, you wrote you wanted to remove "cats", not split actually. It would really be helpful to get the question clear before asking- — too honest for this site, Apr 27 '15 at 02:00

ProfOak · Answer 1 · 2015-04-27T02:11:40.117

0

s = "I love cats so much"
x = [" ", "cats"]

for delim in x:
    s = s.replace(delim, " ")

print s.split()

You're making a new list, without any of the cats.

edited Apr 27 '15 at 02:11

answered Apr 27 '15 at 01:50

ProfOak

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I want to split it by spaces and also by "cats". Is there any way to do both? – V__M Apr 27 '15 at 01:51
No. He wants it split by any of the strings in `x`. – Noufal Ibrahim Apr 27 '15 at 01:51
It's not just `cats`. It's any string in the list `x`. – Noufal Ibrahim Apr 27 '15 at 01:55
What if the string is "I love thundercats so much"? – Juan Lopes Apr 27 '15 at 02:04

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 27 '15 at 01:55

0

Here's one way. Not the most readable of approaches but gets the job done.

import re
x = [" ", "cats"]
pattern = "|".join(x)

re.split(pattern, "I love cats very much")

answered Apr 27 '15 at 01:55

Noufal Ibrahim

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 27 '15 at 02:03

0

def split_many(s, *words):
    return filter(bool, reduce(lambda s, word: 
            s.replace(word, words[0]), words, s).split(words[0]))

print split_many('I love cats so much', 'cats', ' ')

answered Apr 27 '15 at 02:03

Juan Lopes

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How to use any item in a list as a split value in Python?

3 Answers3