[Python-ideas] str.split with padding

[And Clover]

Here's a simple one I've reinvented in my own apps often enough that it 
might be worth adding to the built-in split() method:

     s.split(sep[, maxsplit[, pad]])

pad, if set True, would pad out the returned list with empty strings 
(strs/unicodes depending on returned datatype) so that the list was 
always (maxsplit+1) elements long. This allows one to do things like 
unpacking assignments:

     user, hostname= address.split('@', 1, True)

without having to worry about exceptions when the number of ‘sep’s in 
the string is unexpectedly fewer than ‘maxsplit’.

-- 
And Clover
mailto:and at doxdesk.com
http://www.doxdesk.com/