The syntax of split() is:
str.split([separator [, maxsplit]])
split() Parameters
The split() method takes maximum of 2 parameters:
- separator (optional)- The is a delimiter. The string splits at the specified separator.
If the separator is not specified, any whitespace (space, newline etc.) string is a separator. - maxsplit (optional) - The maxsplit defines the maximum number of splits.
The default value of maxsplit is -1, meaning, no limit on the number of splits.
Return Value from split()
The split() breaks the string at the separator and returns a list of strings.
Example 1: How split() works in Python?
text= 'Love thy neighbor'
# splits at space
print(text.split())
grocery = 'Milk, Chicken, Bread'
# splits at ','
print(grocery.split(', '))
# Splitting at ':'
print(grocery.split(':'))
When you run the program, the output will be:
['Love', 'thy', 'neighbor'] ['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread'] ['Milk, Chicken, Bread']
Example 2: How split() works when maxsplit is specified?
grocery = 'Milk, Chicken, Bread, Butter'
# maxsplit: 2
print(grocery.split(', ', 2))
# maxsplit: 1
print(grocery.split(', ', 1))
# maxsplit: 5
print(grocery.split(', ', 5))
# maxsplit: 0
print(grocery.split(', ', 0))
When you run the program, the output will be:
['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread, Butter'] ['Milk', 'Chicken, Bread, Butter'] ['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter'] ['Milk, Chicken, Bread, Butter']
If maxsplit is specified, the list will have the maximum of maxsplit+1 items.