I propose a syntax for constructing/filtering strings analogous to the one available for all other builtin iterables. It could look something like this.

>>> dirty = "f8sjGe7"

>>> clean = c"char for char in dirty if char in string.ascii_letters"

>>> clean

'fsjGe'

Currently, the best way to do this (in the general case) seems to be the following.

>>> clean = "".join(char for char in dirty if char in string.ascii_letters)

But I think the proposed syntax would be superior for two main reasons.

• Consistency with the comprehension style for all other iterables (which seems to be one of the most beloved features of python)
  
• Confusion surrounding the str.join(iter) syntax is very well documented and I believe it is particularly unintuitive when the string is empty

I also believe the following reasons carry some weight.

• Skips unnecessary type switching from str to iter and back to str
• Much much MUCH more readable/intuitive

Please let me know what you all think. It was mentioned (by @rhettinger) in the PBT issue that this will likely require a PEP which I would happily write if there is a positive response.

--

David Álvarez Lombardi

Machine Learning Spanish Linguist

Amazon | Natural Language Understanding

  Boston, Massachusetts

  alvarezdqal

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