[Tutor] split a string inside a list

[Kayla Hiltermann]

hi,

i am trying to make a pythagorean triples checker (a^2 + b^2 = c^2). the user enters three sides to a triangle and my code determines if it is a pythagorean triple (aka right triangle) or not. i have the entire code pretty much done, except i want to account for variability in user input, like using commas or just spaces. the user input is initially a string, but is converted to a list once run through .split() . I would like to split the user input by commas or spaces, so:
3 4 5
3,4,5
3, 4, 5
all become: [“3", “4", “5"]. yes, the inputs are strings but i convert - or make sure - they are integers later in the program. my main issue is that i cannot split by commas or spaces at the same time. i tried using the vertical bar - .split(“ |,”) but it only executed the split by space, not the split by comma. as of now, i can only split by either. the issue is that when i split by spaces - .split(“ ) , “3,4,5” does not split and becomes the list [“3,4,5”]. on the other hand, “3, 4, 5” does split, but becomes [“3,”, “4,”, “5”]. the problem is the same if i replace the .split(“ “) by split(“,”), only the commas are replaced by spaces.

sorry if that was super confusing. below is my code. there is a commented out section after sides = raw_input … that i left in for reference. all other parts of the code work. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! thanks 



import re

def pythagorean_function():
	sides = raw_input("Please enter three sides to a triangle: \n").split(" |,")

		'''
		when sides is created, it is a string. when it is split by a .split action, 
		it becomes a list regardless if the items in sides are actually split or not.
		i can't figure out how to split sides (when created) by a comma OR a space.
		the following code attempts (and fails).

			re.split(r",| ",sides)
			print sides

			for item in sides:
				if "," in item:
					re.split(r",",item)
					print "comma"
		'''

	sides_int = []
	for value in sides:
		try:
			sides_int.append(int(value))
		except ValueError:
			continue

	while len(sides_int) != 3:
		print ("you did not enter THREE sides! remember all sides must be integers \n")
		break



	sides.sort()

	if sides[0]**2 + sides[1]**2 == sides[2]**2:
		print "\nthis triangle IS a pythagorean triple!\n"
	else:
		print "\nthis triangle is NOT a pythagorean triple\n"

	redo()	

def redo():
	redo_question = raw_input("would you like to see if another triangle is a pythagorean triple? Y/N\n")
	if redo_question == "Y":
		pythagorean_function()
	else:
		print "thanks for stopping by!"

pythagorean_function()