Splitting a string into a list in Python is a technique that is especially useful when working with data structures or parsing input formats. This is because the vector in the input is often in the format of a string. Parsing a string and converting it into a list is comparatively more complex in languages like C++ and Java. Python, on the other hand, provides an easy way to convert the string into a list by using the built-in methods. In this article, we will explore various techniques for splitting a string into a list in detail with examples.
Table of Contents:
What are strings in Python?
Python String is a primitive object data type in Python. It holds character and numeric values. It may even hold emojis or any undefined data. Strings are recognized by the quotes around the characters. You can declare a string using single quotes (‘’) as well as double quotes (“”). Here are some examples of strings in Python.
- “[INFO] 2025-04-08 14:30:00 – User logged in”
- “apple, banana, orange, grape”
- “Dr. John A. Smith”
- “https://intellipaat.com/blog/online-python-compiler/”
- “2025-04-08 14:30:00”
What are Lists in Python?
Python lists are built-in data types that allow you to store mutable elements in a sequence. Mutable elements are those elements that can be modified after declaration. The elements in the List can be of different data types. There is no compulsion for the list to have homogeneous data types. Lists are recognized by square brackets around the elements. You can declare a list using square brackets ([]). Here are some examples of lists in Python.
- [“Line one”, “Line two”, “Line three”]
- [“apple”, “banana”, “orange”, “grape”]
- [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- [{“name”: “Lithin”}, {“name”: “Garima”}, {“name”: “Nithish”}]
- [“Age”, 25, “Active”, True]
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Methods to Split a String into a List in Python
Python offers many ways to split a string into a list and does it in a few lines of code. Let us understand each method and how to implement them with the help of a code.
Method 1: Using split() Method in Python
The most basic way to split a string into lists is using the split() function in Python. This method splits a string based on a delimiter and returns a list of substrings. It is important that the string follow a consistent pattern for this method to work. The str.split() method also has two optional parameters, namely separator and maxsplit.
- Separator: This determines where the string will split. This can also be referred to as a delimiter. By default, the value of the separator is whitespace.
- Maxsplit: This parameter specifies the maximum number of splits to do. By default, the value of maxsplit is -1, which means that it splits across the entire string, and there are no limits to the splitting. This takes a separator parameter as well. If you do not mention the separator, it will, by default, take whitespace as the separator value.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we split the string text1 into a list of words using the split() method with the separator as a comma (,). The second string, text2, was split with a maxsplit parameter of 3.
Method 2: Using splitlines() Method in Python
The splitlines() method is used to split the string based on the newline character (n). You can also achieve this by using the split() method. Just set the value of the separator parameter as “n.”
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we assigned a multiline string to the variable text using triple quotes (‘‘‘ ’’’). Then we used the split() and the splitlines() methods in Python to split it based on new lines.
Method 3: Using the Regular Expressions Module in Python
You can also use the Regular Expressions Module in Python to split the string into lists. This Python module has the re.split() method to do what split() in Python does. Whenever you need to split a string on multiple characters, it is recommended that you use the regular expression (re) module. re allows you to split based on irregular separator patterns. This method also works like a charm when your input is not consistently formatted.
If you are not familiar with the regular expressions module and how to use it, we recommend you first check out our Regular Expressions tutorial before moving forward.
Example:
Let us consider a string “apple, banana;orange|grape / mangotpineapplenpapaya.” This is inconsistently formatted. There is a comma after “apple” but a semicolon after “banana.” This string won’t split using the split() method.
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have an irregular string. We split it based on comma, semicolon, pipe, slash, tab, newline, and space in one go.
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Method 4: Using Partition() Method in Python
The partition() method takes in a separator argument and then splits the string into two parts over this separator. The method returns a tuple containing three elements. The tuple contains (‘everything before a separator’, ‘the separator’, ‘everything after a separator’). You will have to convert the tuple into a list using the list() method.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we used the partition() method to split the email. It split it into three parts and returned the tuple. Then, we typecast the tuple to a list using list().
When you are working with very large strings or massive datasets, optimizing how you split and process text can significantly improve performance. Here are some tips to keep in mind when working with large textual datasets:
- Use the split() method over re.split(), as the split method is much faster and more memory efficient as compared to re.split(). If you do not have any complex delimiters, it is better to use split().
- Always avoid unnecessary loops. Iterating over large split lists multiple times can slow down your code. It is better to process them when you split them, if possible.
Python Split a String – Which Method Should You Use?
| Method |
Use Case |
Works Best For |
| split() |
Basic string splitting |
Simple cases with one known delimiter (like space, comma, etc.) |
| splitlines() |
Splitting by new lines |
Multiline strings, logs, text files |
| re.split() |
Complex or irregular splitting |
Multiple delimiters, messy formats, data cleaning |
| partition() |
Split once around a delimiter |
When you need to keep and use the separator |
Using the Split() Function in List Comprehensions in Python
The split() function is one of the most commonly used functions for string manipulation in Python. The split() function combined with list comprehensions becomes a powerful tool to wield. List comprehension in Python is a way to create a new list by applying an expression to each item in an iterable, including an optional condition.
This method can strip whitespace from elements, filter out unwanted values, and convert elements to different data types in Python (like int, float, etc.). These are some of the most common techniques used in programs. List comprehension paired with the split() method implements these techniques faster and in one line of code, making your program efficient and optimized. Let us see how it is done using an example.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have stripped the whitespace, converted the data type, and filtered out the elements based on a condition before printing the result in 1 line of code.
Practical Applications of Split String in Python
Splitting the string is one of the basic functions used in real-world applications, especially in natural language processing tasks. Here we have listed some situations where the split-the-string function is particularly useful.
- One of the initial tasks in natural language processing (NLP) is tokenization. It is the process of breaking text down into tokens, which are then preprocessed for a task such as sentiment analysis, classification, or entity recognition.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, the sentence is split into tokens.
- It is useful to separate text into individual words before analyzing the text. We clean it by transforming the words into lowercase, stripping extra white spaces, etc. This process is called text cleaning. It is a preprocessing step in NLP.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have applied the split() function and cleaned the text nlp process.
- Splitting a paragraph or file into sentences is beneficial to NLP applications like summarization or conversation in chatbots. This simplifies the data for processing and analysis.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have split the paragraph into sentences for ease of use.
- You can split URLs into substrings with protocol, domain, path, and parameters. These can then be utilized to deal with routing, validating, or analyzing.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have split the URL address. This way we can access the domain, categories, paths, etc.
- Most log formats use symbols like commas, spaces, or pipes as delimiters, which can be used to split and extract useful data for analysis.
Example:
Output:
Explanation: Here, we have split the log into two parts, the message and the time stamp.
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Conclusion
Splitting strings into lists is an effective technique in Python that proves useful in a wide range of fields, from data analysis and text processing to file handling. Python has functions such as split(), splitlines(), and tools such as re.split() to perform this operation with ease and fewer lines of code. These functions provide flexibility for both straightforward strings and complex strings with irregular formatting and patterns. By mastering these methods, you can write clean code. Whether you are developing data pipelines or constructing NLP models, understanding when and how to apply each method will help you write and present optimized Python code.
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How to Split a String into a List in Python- FAQs
Q1. How to split a string into a list in Python?
You can split a string into a list using the split() method, the splitlines() method or the re.split() method from the regular expressions module.
Q2. How to make a string into a list in Python?
You split the string using the split() method, as this method returns a list.
Q3. How to split a text file into a list in Python?
You can use splitlines() to split the text file into a list of sentences. You can further split the sentences into words if you want to.
Q4. What does str.split() do?
It splits the string at the white spaces, appends them into a list, and then returns that list.
Q5. How do I turn a list into a string?
You can use the “”.join(list) method to convert a list into a string.