[ python-Feature Requests-1367936 ] split() string method has two splitting algorithms

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Feature Requests item #1367936, was opened at 2005-11-28 06:13
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Category: None
Group: None
Status: Open
Resolution: None
Priority: 5
Submitted By: crackwitz (crackwitz)
Assigned to: Nobody/Anonymous (nobody)
Summary: split() string method has two splitting algorithms

Initial Comment:
The docs of Python 2.4.2 for .split([sep [,maxsplit]]) say:
"If sep is not specified or is None, a different
splitting algorithm is applied."
I would like to see that behavior exposed and
consistent, i.e. stripping (new key strip=...?)
independent of whether sep is None or not.
Making it consistent could break existing code because
people already built on split()'s special behavior.
You could say strip=None by default and only keep
switching if strip==None.
I don't like this magic behavior though because there's
no reason for it to exist.

# this is now (Python v2.4.2)
' foo  bar '.split() # => ['foo', 'bar']
' foo  bar '.split(' ') # => ['', 'foo', '', 'bar', '']

# this is how I would like it to be
' foo  bar '.split(strip=True) # => ['foo', 'bar']
' foo  bar '.split(strip=False) # => ['', 'foo', '',
'bar', '']

# compatibility preserved (strip=None by default):
' foo  bar '.split(strip=None) # => ['foo', 'bar']
' foo  bar '.split(' ', strip=None) # => ['', 'foo',
'', 'bar', '']

what do you think?

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