Python Convert String to List

1. Introduction

Python offers versatile data types and one such is the list. There are instances in coding where you might have a string that you want to convert into a list of characters or words. Converting a string to a list can be very handy, especially when the goal is to perform operations on individual elements or iterate over parts of the string. This post will guide you through converting a string into a list in Python.

Definition

String to list conversion in Python refers to the process of turning a string—a sequence of characters enclosed in quotes—into a list, which is an ordered collection of elements. This conversion can be done in several ways, depending on the desired outcome (e.g., splitting a sentence into words or breaking a string into individual characters).

2. Program Steps

1. Determine the criteria for the conversion: by each character, by word, or using a specific delimiter.

2. If converting by characters, use the list constructor. For words or specific delimiters, use the split() method.

3. Convert the string to a list using the chosen method.

4. Output or manipulate the list as needed.

3. Code Program

# Example of converting a string into a list of words

# Step 1: Define a string
sentence = "Python is fun"

# Step 2: Use the split() method to convert the string into a list of words
words_list = sentence.split()

# Step 3: Print the result
print(words_list)

# Example of converting a string into a list of characters

# Step 1: Define a string
word = "Hello"

# Step 2: Use the list() constructor to convert the string into a list of characters
char_list = list(word)

# Step 3: Print the result
print(char_list)

Output:

['Python', 'is', 'fun']
['H', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o']

Explanation:

1. sentence is a string that we want to split into words.

2. words_list is created by using sentence.split(), which splits the string at each space (the default delimiter) and returns a list of words.

3. The first print outputs words_list, which contains each word from sentence as a separate element in the list.

4. In the second example, word is a string that we want to split into its individual characters.

5. char_list is created using list(word), which takes the string word and converts it into a list of characters.

6. The second print outputs char_list, showing each character in word as an element in the list.