How To Easily Use Python String Split Method [Detailed Python Guide]

In this tutorial, we’ll learn what Python string split() method is and how to properly use it. We’ll go through multiple Python code examples to understand how split method works.

Introduction: Python String split() Method

This method breaks a string and return a list of strings. We can specify from which character/substring, the string should break. If not specified any, then whitespaces will be used.

Syntax of split() Method

string.split(separator(optional), maxSplitNumbers(optional))

• Python string split method takes two arguments.
• First argument is used to specify which character should be used to split the string.
• Second argument specify the number of splits that should be performed.
• Python string split method return a list of substrings after breaking/splitting the main string.

Example 1: split() Method applied on a Python String

print('Python Programming Python Language Programming.'.split('Python')) 
print('Python Programming Python language'.split()) 
print('Python Programming'.split('pro')) 
print('Python-Programming-Language'.split('-')) 
print('Python3Programming3Python3language'.split('3'))

Output

['', ' Programming ', ' Language Programming.'] 
['Python', 'Programming', 'Python', 'language'] 
['Python Programming'] 
['Python', 'Programming', 'Language'] 
['Python', 'Programming', 'Python', 'language']

This is how Python string split method works. You can try it with even more examples to better understand the working of this method.

Example 2: split() Method with MaxSplit

print('a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h'.split(',',3)) 
print('a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h'.split('-',0))
print('a b c d e f g h'.split('  ',4)) // whitespace separator
print('a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h'.split(',',1)) 
print('a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h'.split('',4))    // empty separator gives error

Output

['a', 'b', 'c', 'd,e,f,g,h'] 
['a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h'] 
['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e f g h'] 
['a', 'b,c,d,e,f,g,h']
ValueError: empty separator

So this is how we can limit the number of splits in a string. Splitting starts from left and can be seen in the above examples.

Example 3: Python String split() Method Return Value

val= 'a,bb,c,d,e,f,g,h' 
returnedVal=val.split(',',4) 
print(returnedVal)

Output

['a', 'bb', 'c', 'd', 'e,f,g,h']

We can see that Python string split method has returned a list of substrings after splitting the main string. This method uses whitespace as a default separator, if no separator is specified in split method.

Conclusion

To conclude this tutorial, hope you now have a detailed practical understanding of how to properly use Python string split method. I’d be very happy to receive your feedback on this post. Thank you for reading it.