Split a string on whitespace in Python

This post will discuss how to split a string on whitespace in Python. The result should be a list of words in the string but without any leading or trailing whitespace.

1. Using `str.split()` function

The Pythonic way of splitting on a string in Python uses the str.split(sep) function. It splits the string based on the specified delimiter sep. When the delimiter is not provided, the consecutive whitespace is treated as a separator.

This is demonstrated below, where the no-arg split function splits on whitespace:

if __name__ == '__main__':

s = "a b \t c \r\n d e"

words = s.split()

print(words) # ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']

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2. Using Regular Expression

This can also be done using regular expressions. However, regular expressions are not considered very Pythonic and would be overkill for such a trivial task. Here’s a Python program that demonstrates it:

import re

if __name__ == '__main__':

s = "a b \t c \r\n d e"

words = re.split('\s+', s)

print(words) # ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']

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That’s all about splitting a string on whitespace in Python.

Split a string on whitespace in Python

1. Using str.split() function

2. Using Regular Expression

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1. Using `str.split()` function