Split string with multiple delimiters in Python

Question

I found some answers online  but I have no experience with regular expressions  which I believe is what is needed here   I have a string that needs to be split by either a     or      That is  it has to be either a semicolon or a comma followed by a space  Individual commas without trailing spaces should be left untouched  Example string    b-staged divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene  124221-30-3   mesitylene  000108-67-8   polymerized 1 2-dihydro-2 2 4- trimethyl quinoline  026780-96-1     should be split into a list containing the following     b-staged divinylsiloxane-bis-benzocyclobutene  124221-30-3      mesitylene  000108-67-8     polymerized 1 2-dihydro-2 2 4- trimethyl quinoline  026780-96-1

User · Answer

Do a str replace             and then a str split

User · Answer

This is how the regex look like   import re    semicolon or  a comma followed by a space   pattern   re compile r             semicolon or a comma  followed by a space  pattern   re compile r          print pattern split text

User · Answer

Luckily  Python has this built-in     import re re split         str    Update Following your comment    gt  gt  gt  a  Beautiful  is  better than nugly   gt  gt  gt  import re  gt  gt  gt  re split            n  a    Beautiful    is    better    than    ugly

User · Answer

Here s a safe way for any iterable of delimiters  using regular expressions   gt  gt  gt  import re  gt  gt  gt  delimiters    quot a quot    quot     quot    quot  c  quot   gt  gt  gt  example    quot stackoverflow  c  is awesome    isn t it  quot   gt  gt  gt  regexPattern       join map re escape  delimiters    gt  gt  gt  regexPattern  a              c      gt  gt  gt  re split regexPattern  example    st    ckoverflow      is     wesome    quot  isn t it  quot    re escape allows to build the pattern automatically and have the delimiters escaped nicely  Here s this solution as a function for your copy-pasting pleasure  def split delimiters  string  maxsplit 0       import re     regexPattern       join map re escape  delimiters       return re split regexPattern  string  maxsplit   If you re going to split often using the same delimiters  compile your regular expression beforehand like described and use RegexObject split   If you d like to leave the original delimiters in the string  you can change the regex to use a lookbehind assertion instead   gt  gt  gt  import re  gt  gt  gt  delimiters    quot a quot    quot     quot    quot  c  quot   gt  gt  gt  example    quot stackoverflow  c  is awesome    isn t it  quot   gt  gt  gt  regexPattern       join     lt       format re escape delim   for delim in delimiters   gt  gt  gt  regexPattern     lt  a     lt                lt     c       gt  gt  gt  re split regexPattern  example    sta    ckoverflow  c      is a    wesome       quot  isn t it  quot     replace   lt   with    to attach the delimiters to the righthand side  instead of left

User · Answer

In response to Jonathan s answer above  this only seems to work for certain delimiters   For example    gt  gt  gt  a  Beautiful  is  better than nugly   gt  gt  gt  import re  gt  gt  gt  re split            n  a    Beautiful    is    better    than    ugly     gt  gt  gt  b  1999-05-03 10 37 00   gt  gt  gt  re split  -     b    1999-05-03 10 37 00     By putting the delimiters in square brackets it seems to work more effectively    gt  gt  gt  re split   -      b    1999    05    03    10    37    00

[python] Split string with multiple delimiters in Python

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