A problem with list

[Tim Henderson]

Hi

There are many different ways to solve the problem that you are having. 
The easiest if you are planning on only dealing with strings or a 
predictable data structure would be to do something like this:

Code:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#Pre: Pass in a string and the character you want it tokenized by
#Post: Returns a list of all the tokens
def tokenizer(str, chr=' '): #heres a useful tool just like 
StringTokenizer feature in Java
    if chr != '': chr = chr[0]
    else: chr = ' '
    x = ""
    tokens = [""]
    z = 0
    for x in str:
        if x != chr:
            tokens[z] = tokens[z] + x
        else:
            z = z + 1
            tokens.append("")
    return tokens


list = ['abc', 'def', 'xyz']
str = ''
for x in list:
    str+=list+'.' #note this is a delimiter could be anything, if you 
wanted to you could re-implement the above function to work with 
delimiters of any length not just length 1

#save the str

#load str a loadedStr

loadedList = tokenizer(loadedStr, '.')

#loadedList = ['abc', 'def', 'xyz']
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

that is one way too solve your problem

another is to use some sort of real database structure, for simplicity, 
you could use XML

example xml structure:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<list-element>
    <date_type>float</data_type>
    <value>3.14</value>
    <element_number>0</element_number>
</list-element>
<list-element>
    <date_type>int</data_type>
    <value>3</value>
    <element_number>1</element_number>
</list-element>
<list-element>
    <date_type>string</data_type>
    <value>Hi i am a string</value>
    <element_number>2</element_number>
</list-element>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first way to solve your problem is quick dirty and efficient. The 
XML version is highly scalable but requires a lot more code to 
implement. As mentioned before there are a number of other solutions to 
the same problem


---
Cheers
Tim Henderson


original message:
----

>The following code
>##############
>import string
>MyList=['abc','def']
>for i in MyList:
>print i
>###############
>
>works as I expect that is I get
>abc
>def
>
>but when I have Mylist in a file and I read it from the file it does
>not work as I expect.
>#########
>import string
>ff=open('C:\\Robotp\\MyFile.txt','r') # read MyList from a file
>MyList=ff.read()
>for i in MyList:
>print i
>###########
>I will get
>[
>'
>a
>b
>c
>'
>,
>'
>d
>e
>f
>'
>]
>
>where my MyFile.txt looks like this:
>['abc','def']
>
>Where is a problem?
>Thanks for help
>Lad
>