<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Feb 27, 2011, at 4:36 PM, MRAB wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><br></font>As has been pointed out previously, it's easy to keep adding stuff, but<br>once something is added we'll be stuck with it forever (virtually), so<br>we need to be careful.<br></div></blockquote></div><br><div>The real problem is that str.split() is already at its usability limits.</div><div>The two separate algorithms are a perpetual source of confusion.</div><div>It took years to get the documentation to be as accurate and</div><div>helpful as they are now.</div><div><br></div><div>Extending str.split() in any way would make the problem worse,</div><div>so it shouldn't be touched again. It would helpful to consider</div><div>its API to be frozen.</div><div><br></div><div>Any bright ideas for additional capabilities should be aimed</div><div>at new methods, modules, or recipes but not at str.split() itself.</div><div><br></div><div>Useful as it is, we're fortunate that str.splitlines() was implementation</div><div>as a separate method rather than as an extension to str.split().</div><div>IMO, this should be the model for the future. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Raymond</div><div><br></div></body></html>