How to Split a String by Every Other Separator

What is the best approach to split a string by every other specified separator?

string = 'apple|banana;orange|grape;kiwi'
separators = ['|', ';']

Splitting a string by multiple separators can be achieved through various programming techniques, depending on the required logic. When you want to split a string by every other specified separator, we can leverage regular expressions or custom logic within a loop.

import re

def split_alternate_sep(input_string, separators):
    # Create a regex pattern from separators
    pattern = f'[{re.escape(''.join(separators))}]'
    # Split the string only by the defined separators
    parts = re.split(pattern, input_string)
    return parts

result = split_alternate_sep('apple|banana;orange|grape;kiwi', ['|', ';'])
print(result)  # Output: ['apple', 'banana', 'orange', 'grape', 'kiwi']

Causes

• Using inappropriate string manipulation methods that do not consider multiple separators.
• Neglecting to account for the order in which to split the string.

Solutions

• Utilize regular expressions to match and split the string appropriately.
• Implement a loop to manage the separators and the order in which they are applied.

Mistake: Using the .split() method with a single separator without considering the array of separators.

Solution: Employ regular expressions with re.split() to include multiple separators.

Mistake: Assuming all separators will always appear in the string.

Solution: Implement logic to handle cases where one or more separators may be missing.