Split a string in python

Question

I have python string as follows

mystring = "copy "d:\Progrm Files" "c:\Progrm Files\once up on a time""

how can I split this string to

mylist = [copy,d:\Progrm Files,c:\Progrm Files\once up on a time]

When I tried to use mysring.split(" ") the spaces Progrm Files and once up on a time are also getting split.

Your examples are invalid python; quotes inside quotes, and backslash escapes. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 9:06
Now your code is invalid in a shell context; the shell will interpret the spaces in the same manner and not correctly interpret the command. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 9:08
Your quoting is still quite seriously mucked up; you need to double check that your mystring is properly quoted for both python and the shell. Compare the example given in my answer with your own code. — Martijn Pieters
– Martijn Pieters, Commented Jul 31, 2012 at 9:46

Martijn Pieters · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-31 09:18:00Z

9

You want to take a look at the shlex module, the shell lexer. It specializes in splitting command lines such as yours into it's constituents, including handling quoting correctly.

>>> import shlex
>>> command = r'copy "d:\Program Files" "c:\Program Files\once up on a time"'
>>> shlex.split(command)
['copy', 'd:\\Program Files', 'c:\\Program Files\\once up on a time']

edited Jul 31, 2012 at 9:18

answered Jul 31, 2012 at 9:07

Martijn Pieters

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Comments

Inbar Rose · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-31 09:43:39Z

1

this regex catches what you want:

import re

mystring = "copy \"d:\Progrm Files\" \"c:\Progrm Files\once up on a time\""

m = re.search(r'([\w]*) ["]?([[\w]:\\[\w\\ ]+)*["]? ["]?([[\w]:\\[\w\\ ]+)*["]?', mystring)

print m.group(1)
print m.group(2)
print m.group(3)

>>> 
copy
d:\Progrm Files
c:\Progrm Files\once up on a time

edited Jul 31, 2012 at 9:43

answered Jul 31, 2012 at 9:33

Inbar Rose

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