Split string and remove whitespace in Python

Split string and remove whitespace in Python #

To split a string and remove whitespace:

1. Use the str.split() method to split the string into a list.
2. Use a list comprehension to iterate over the list.
3. On each iteration, use the str.strip() method to remove the leading and trailing whitespace.

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my_str = 'one,   two,   three,  four'

my_list = [word.strip() for word in my_str.split(',')]
print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four']

We used the str.split() method to split the string on each occurrence of a comma.

The str.split() method splits the original string into a list of substrings using a delimiter.

The method takes the following 2 parameters:

If the separator is not found in the string, a list containing only 1 element is returned.

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my_str = 'one,   two,   three,  four'

l = my_str.split(', ')
print(l)  # 👉️ ['one', '  two', '  three', ' four']

The next step is to use a list comprehension to iterate over the list of strings.

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my_str = 'one,   two,   three,  four'


my_list = [word.strip() for word in my_str.split(',')]
print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four']

On each iteration, we call the str.strip() method to remove any leading or trailing whitespace from the string.

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example = '   hello      '

print(repr(example.strip())) # 👉️ 'hello'

The str.strip method returns a copy of the string with the leading and trailing whitespace removed.

An alternative approach is to use the map() function.

To split a string and remove whitespace:

1. Call the str.split() method on the string to get a list of strings.
2. Pass the str.strip method and the list to the map() function.
3. The map function will call the str.strip method on each string in the list.

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my_str = 'one,   two,   three,  four'

my_list = list(map(str.strip, my_str.split(',')))

print(my_list) # 👉️ ['one', 'two', 'three', 'four']

The map() function takes a function and an iterable as arguments and calls the function with each item of the iterable.

The map function returns a map object (not a list). If you need to convert the value to a list, pass it to the list() class.

Which approach you pick is a matter of personal preference. I'd go with the list comprehension as it is a bit more readable and explicit.