John Machin wrote: > | >>> s='"123","a,b,\"c\"",5.640' Note how I fixed the input: >>> '"123","a,b,\"c\"",5.640' '"123","a,b,"c"",5.640' >>> '"123","a,b,\\"c\\"",5.640' '"123","a,b,\\"c\\"",5.640' Peter