[Tutor] string split function - how to tell how many splits

[Joel Goldstick]

On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Cranky Frankie <cranky.frankie at gmail.com>wrote:

> How do you tell how many splits the string split funtion returns? For
> example:
>
> field = 'The Good Wife ;'       # a string separated by spaces
> new_list = field.split(' ')     # create a list of space delimited elements
> print (new_list[0])             # print the first one
> print (new_list[1])             # print the second one
> print (new_list[2])             # print the third one
> print (new_list[3])             # print the fourth one
> print (new_list[4])             # print the fifth one
>
>
> The last line above causes an error. I plan on reading in a file where
> I don't know what the number of splits will be. How can I find out
> before trying to access an out of range index?
>
>
>
> --
> Frank L. "Cranky Frankie" Palmeri, Guilderland, NY, USA
>              Risible Riding Raconteur & Writer
> Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.
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you can find the length of the list with the len() function

>>> field = 'The Good Wife ;'       # a string separated by spaces
>>> new_list = field.split(' ')     # create a list of space delimited
elements
>>> len(new_list)
4


-- 
Joel Goldstick
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