On 2010-06-18, Jon Clements <joncle at googlemail.com> wrote: >> I just wondered if something smoother was available. > > In terms of behaviour and 'safety', I'd go for: > >>>> rec = { 'code1': '1,2,3', 'code2': '' } >>>> next(csv.reader([rec['code1']])) > ['1', '2', '3'] >>>> next(csv.reader([rec['code2']])) > [] Slick! -- Neil Cerutti