How to create a list consisting of elements contained within a character from a string in Python?

Question

Hi I have the following string:

s = '{'abc', 'def'}'

I want to create a list

L = ['abc', 'def']

How is best to achieve this?

I can do the standard replace etc and create a list but keeping in mind the length + # of elements of s will change.

`s = '{'abc', 'def'}'` will result in a syntax error, please correct it — Devesh Kumar Singh, Jun 19 '19 at 12:53
That's not a valid string. Please show an actual string, with proper escapes if necessary. — Mad Physicist, Jun 19 '19 at 12:53

zipa · Answer 1 · 2019-06-19T13:01:47.977

5

If you have situation such as this one:

s = "{'abc', 'def'}"

from ast import literal_eval
list(literal_eval(s))
['abc', 'def']

edited Jun 19 '19 at 13:01

answered Jun 19 '19 at 12:56

zipa

1

Maybe explain what [`literal_eval`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/ast.html#ast.literal_eval) is ? I linked to the doc for you. – IMCoins Jun 19 '19 at 13:00
@IMCoins Forgot to add link, thanks a ton! – zipa Jun 19 '19 at 13:02

1 Answers1