Python: How to Split String with Empty Separator

First of all, this is on Python 2.7x.

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For instance, we have this string:

a = "This string"

If we use split with an empty string "" or '', it will return error.

b = a.split("")

ValueError

Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line ..., in <module> ValueError: empty separator

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In JavaScript, we can directly use empty separator. Like so:

a.split(""); // OUTPUT ["T", "h", "i", "s", " ", "s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]

That cannot be done in Python. Below is some of the methods in Python.

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Use list() Function

b = list(a) print b ["T", "h", "i", "s", " ", "s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]

➡️ list() documentation

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Use map() Function

c = map(None, a) print c ["T", "h", "i", "s", " ", "s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"]

➡️ map() documentation

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Generic

String is an iterable object. So, we can directly use the index of each string and/or do iteration using for.

Let's initiate a list object, get each string value using for, and copy it to the newly created object:

d = [value for value in a] print d ["T", "h", "i", "s", " ", "s", "t", "r", "i", "n", "g"] [value for value in a]

That bit above means:

Initiate a list object, get each string value using for, and copy it to the newly created object.