Split a string without removing the delimiter in Python

# Table of Contents

1. Split a string without removing the delimiter in Python
2. Removing the trailing delimiter with rstrip()
3. Removing the trailing delimiter with list slicing
4. Splitting the delimiters as separate list items
5. Split a string without removing the delimiter using a for loop

# Split a string without removing the delimiter in Python

To split a string without removing the delimiter:

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, add the delimiter to the item.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

delimiter = '_'

my_list = [x+delimiter for x in my_str.split(delimiter) if x]

# 👇️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']
print(my_list)

The first step is to use the str.split() method to split the string into a list.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

delimiter = '_'

# 👇️ ['bobby', 'hadz', 'com']
print(my_str.split(delimiter))

Once we have a list of strings, we can use a list comprehension to iterate over it, adding the delimiter to each list item.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

delimiter = '_'

my_list = [x+delimiter for x in my_str.split(delimiter) if x]

# 👇️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']
print(my_list)

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

The method takes the following 2 parameters:

# Removing the trailing delimiter with rstrip()

If you need to remove the trailing delimiter, use the str.rstrip() method.

Copied!
my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

delimiter = '_'

my_list = [x+delimiter for x in my_str.split(delimiter) if x]

# 👇️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']
print(my_list)

my_list[-1] = my_list[-1].rstrip(delimiter)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com']

We used the str.rstrip() method to remove the trailing delimiter from the last list element.

The str.rstrip() method takes a string containing characters as an argument and returns a copy of the string with the specified trailing characters removed.

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my_str = 'bobbyhadz.com'

result = my_str.rstrip('ocm.')
print(result)  # 👉️ 'bobbyhadz'

The method doesn't change the original string, it returns a new string. Strings are immutable in Python.

# Removing the trailing delimiter with list slicing

You can also use list slicing to remove the trailing delimiter.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

delimiter = '_'

my_list = [x+delimiter for x in my_str.split(delimiter) if x]

# 👇️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']
print(my_list)

my_list[-1] = my_list[-1][:-len(delimiter)]

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com']

The syntax for list slicing is a_list[start:stop:step].

We only specified a negative stop index in the slice.

Negative stop indices can be used to omit the last N characters.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

print(my_str[:-1])  # bobby_hadz_co
print(my_str[:-2])  # bobby_hadz_c
print(my_str[:-3])  # bobby_hadz_

# Splitting the delimiters as separate list items

If you need to split the delimiters as separate items in the list, use the re.split() method.

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import re

my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

my_list = re.split(r'(_)', my_str)

# 👇️ ['bobby', '_', 'hadz', '_', 'com']
print(my_list)

The re.split() method takes a pattern and a string and splits the string on each occurrence of the pattern.

The group's contents can still be retrieved after the match.

Even though we split the string on the underscore, we still include the underscores in the result.

# Split a string without removing the delimiter using a for loop

You can also use a for loop to split a string without removing the delimiter.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

my_list = []

delimiter = '_'

for item in my_str.split(delimiter):
    if item:
        my_list.append(item + delimiter)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']

We used a for loop to iterate over the result of calling split() on the string.

On each iteration, we append the current item and the delimiter to a new list.

You can use the str.rstrip() method if you need to remove the delimiter from the last list item.

Copied!
my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

my_list = []

delimiter = '_'

for item in my_str.split(delimiter):
    if item:
        my_list.append(item + delimiter)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']

my_list[-1] = my_list[-1].rstrip(delimiter)

print(my_list) # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com']

The last element in a list has an index of -1, so we reassigned it to the result of calling rstrip() on it.

You can also use list slicing to remove the trailing delimiter.

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my_str = 'bobby_hadz_com'

my_list = []

delimiter = '_'

for item in my_str.split(delimiter):
    if item:
        my_list.append(item + delimiter)

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com_']

my_list[-1] = my_list[-1][:-len(delimiter)]

print(my_list)  # 👉️ ['bobby_', 'hadz_', 'com']

I've also written an article on how to split a string with multiple delimiters.

# Additional Resources

You can learn more about the related topics by checking out the following tutorials:

• Split a String, Reverse it and Join it back in Python
• How to Split a string by Whitespace in Python
• How to convert a String to a Tuple in Python
• Split a String into Text and Number in Python
• Split a String into a List of Integers in Python
• Split a String and remove the Whitespace in Python