[Tutor] str.split and quotes

[Kent Johnson]

Marilyn Davis wrote:
> Hi Tutors,
> 
> I need a little help with this, if anyone has the time and inclination:
> 
> 
>>>>s = 'Hi "Python Tutors" please help'
>>>>s.split()
> 
> ['Hi', '"Python', 'Tutors"', 'please', 'help']
> 
> 
> I wish it would leave the stuff in quotes in tact:
> 
> ['Hi', '"Python Tutors"', 'please', 'help']

You can do this easily with the csv module. The only complication is that the string has to be 
wrapped in a StringIO to turn it into a file-like object. If your strings are actually coming from a 
file then the wrapping isn't needed, you can pass the file directly to csv.reader().

  >>> import StringIO, csv
  >>> s = 'Hi "Python Tutors" please help'
  >>> input = StringIO.StringIO(s)
  >>> csv.reader(input, delimiter=' ').next()
['Hi', 'Python Tutors', 'please', 'help']

Oops, that isn't actually what you asked for, it strips the quotes. Oh well.

Kent