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.