how to remove comma while using split() function?

[Eddie Corns]

regnivon at netscape.net (scn) writes:

>hello. 
>i wrote a program to extract first and last names from a flat file and
>populate a mysql database.  It worked the first time, belive it or
>not. however, the comma after the first name is in the "firstname"
>record and i'd like to understand in my "line.split()" function how to
>remove the comma before populating the database.  thanks for your
>help.

>the following are snippets from my program:

><snip>
># open a file for reading
># this file contains a list of first and last names, separated by a
>comma
># example 'firstname1, lastname1'
>input = open('c:/python22/programs/database stuff/names.txt', 'r')

><snip>
># loop directly on the file open for reading - xreadlines is
>obsolescent
>for line in input:
>    # split selectivley so most whitespaces in the line's not
>disturbed
>    firstname, lastname = line.split(None, 1)
>    tuple = (firstname, lastname)
>    # and append to data[] list
>    data.append(tuple)

If you're sure that the fields are seperated by exactly ", " you could do:

firstname,lastname = line.split(', ',1)

perhaps a more generic approach would be

from string import strip
...
    firstname,lastname = map(strip, line.split(',',1))

Or in fact (sticking with the first example):

tup = tuple (line.split(', ',1))
data.append (tup)

and finally:

for line in input:
    data.append (tuple (line.split(', ',1)))

or

for line in input:
    data.append (tuple (map(strip, line.split(',',1))))

if you prefer that way.  Which should also show you why 'tuple' isn't a good
name for a variable.