Newbie question regarding string.split()

[kevinliu23]

Hey guys,

So I have a question regarding the split() function in the string
module. Let's say I have an string...

input = "2b 3 4bx 5b 2c 4a 5a 6"
projectOptions = (input.replace(" ", "")).split('2')
print projectOptions

['', 'b34bx5b', 'c4a5a6']

My question is, why is the first element of projectOptions an empty
string? What can I do so that the first element is not an empty
string? but the 'b34bx5b' string as I expected?

Thanks so much guys. :)