How to Split a Multi-line String into Multiple Lines?

Summary: Use given_string.splitlines() to split a given multiline string into multiple lines.

Minimal Example:

text = 'Python\nJava\nC#'
print(text.splitlines())
# Output: ['Python', 'Java', 'C#']

Problem Formulation

📜Problem: Given a string, How will you split the string into a list of words using newline as a separator/delimiter?

Example:

# Input
text = """abc
def
ghi
"""
# Expected Output
['abc', 'def', 'ghi']

Let’s dive into the different ways of solving the given problem.

Method 1: Using splitlines

Approach: The most convenient and easiest way to split a given multiline string into multiple strings is to use the splitlines() method, i.e., simply use – 'given_string'.splitlines().

NOTE: splitlines() is a built-in method in Python that splits a string at line breaks such as '\n' and returns a split list of substrings (i.e., lines). For example, 'finxter\nis\ncool'.splitlines() will return the following list: ['finxter', 'is', 'cool'].

Code:

# Input
text = """Python is an Object Oriented programming language.
COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.
F# is an Object Oriented programming language."""

print(text.splitlines())

# Output: ['Python is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'F# is an Object Oriented programming language.']

🌎Related Read: Python String splitlines()

Method 2: Using split()

Approach: Use 'given_string'.split('\n') to split the given multiline string at line breaks.

Code:

# Input
text = """Python is an Object Oriented programming language.
COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.
F# is an Object Oriented programming language."""

print(text.split('\n'))

# Output: ['Python is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'F# is an Object Oriented programming language.']

Using “\n” ensures that whenever a new line occurs, the string is split.

🌎Related Read: Python String split()

Method 3: Using re.split in a List Comprehension

Another way to solve the given problem is to use the split method of the regex module. You can split the string at every line break by passing “\n” as the pattern within the re.split function. To ensure that there are no leading or trailing extra whitespaces in the resultant list you can use a list comprehension that stores the split strings only and eliminates whitespace characters. This can be done with the help of an if statement within the list comprehension as shown in the solution below.

Code:

import re

text = """Python is an Object Oriented programming language.
COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.
F# is an Object Oriented programming language."""

print([x for x in re.split("\n", text) if x!=''])

# Output: ['Python is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'COBOL is an Object Oriented programming language.', 'F# is an Object Oriented programming language.']

NOTE: The re.split(pattern, string) method matches all occurrences of the pattern in the string and divides the string along the matches resulting in a list of strings between the matches. For example, re.split('a', 'bbabbbab') results in the list of strings ['bb', 'bbb', 'b'].

🌎Read more here – Python Regex Split

List Comprehension: “A list comprehension consists of brackets containing an expression followed by a for clause, then zero or more for or if clauses. The result will be a new list resulting from evaluating the expression in the context of the for and if clauses which follow it.”

🌎Read more here: List Comprehension in Python — A Helpful Illustrated Guide

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Conclusion

We have successfully solved the given problem using three different approaches. I hope you this article answered all your queries. Please subscribe and stay tuned for more interesting articles!

Happy coding! 🙂

Related Reads:
⦿ Python | Split String by Newline
⦿ Python | Split String by Whitespace
⦿ Python | Split String into Characters

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