Python | Split multiple characters from string

11 Nov, 2019
While coding or improvising your programming skill, you surely must have come across many scenarios where you wished to use .split() in Python not to split on only one character but multiple characters at once. Consider this for an example:
"GeeksforGeeks, is an-awesome! website"
Using .split() on the above will result in
['GeeksforGeeks, ', 'is', 'an-awesome!', 'website']
whereas the desired result should be
['GeeksforGeeks', 'is', 'an', 'awesome', 'website']
In this article, we will look at some ways in which we can achieve the same.
This is the most efficient and commonly used method to split on multiple characters at once. It makes use of regex(regular expressions) in order to this.
# Python3 code to demonstrate working of # Splitting operators in String # Using re.split()   import re  # initializing stringdata = "GeeksforGeeks, is_an-awesome ! website"  # printing original string  print("The original string is : " + data)   # Using re.split() # Splitting characters in String res = re.split(', |_|-|!', data)  # printing result  print("The list after performing split functionality : " + str(res)) 
Output:
The original string is : GeeksforGeeks, is_an-awesome ! websiteThe list after performing split functionality : [‘GeeksforGeeks’, ‘is’, ‘an’, ‘awesome ‘, ‘ website’]
The line re.split(', |_|-|!', data) tells Python to split the variable data on the characters: , or _ or – or !. The symbol “|” represents or.
There are some symbols in regex which are treated as special symbols and have different functions. If you wish to split on such a symbol, you need to escape it using a “\“(back-slash). List of special characters that needs to be escaped before using them:
. \ + * ? [ ^ ] $ ( ) { } = !  | : -
For example:
import renewData = "GeeksforGeeks, is_an-awesome ! app + too"  # To split "+" use backslashprint(re.split(', |_|-|!|\+', newData))
Output:
['GeeksforGeeks', ' is', 'an', 'awesome', ' app', 'too']
Note: To know more about regex click here.
This is a bit more arcane form but saves time. It also makes use of regex like above but instead of .split() method, it uses a method called .findall(). This method finds all the matching instances and returns each of them in a list. This way of splitting is best used when you don’t know the exact characters you want to split upon.
# Python3 code to demonstrate working of # Splitting operators in String # Using re.findall() import re    # initializing string  data = "This, is - another : example?!"  # printing original string  print("The original string is : " + data)   # Using re.findall() # Splitting characters in String res = re.findall(r"[\w']+", data)  # printing result  print("The list after performing split functionality : " + str(res)) 
Output:
The original string is : This, is – another : example?!The list after performing split functionality : [‘This’, ‘is’, ‘another’, ‘example’]
Here the keyword [\w']+ indicates that it will find all the instances of alphabets or underscore(_) one or more and return them in a list.Note: [\w']+ won’t split upon an underscore(_) as it searches for alphabets as well as underscores.For example:
import retestData = "This, is - underscored _ example?!"print(re.findall(r"[\w']+", testData))
Output:
['This', 'is', 'underscored', '_', 'example']
This is a very rookie way of doing the split. It does not make use of regex and is inefficient but still worth a try. If you know the characters you want to split upon, just replace them with a space and then use .split():
# Python code to demonstrate  # to split strings   # Initial stringdata = "Let's_try, this now"  # printing original string  print("The original string is : " + data)   # Using replace() and split() # Splitting characters in String  res = data.replace('_', ' ').replace(', ', ' ').split()  # Printing resultprint("The list after performing split functionality : " + str(res)) 
Output:
The original string is : Let’s_try, this nowThe list after performing split functionality : [“Let’s”, ‘try’, ‘this’, ‘now’]
Regex cheat-sheet on character description
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