In Python, how do I split a string and keep the separators?

Question

Here\'s the simplest way to explain this. Here\'s what I\'m using:

re.split(\'\\W\', \'foo/bar spam\\neggs\')
-> [\'foo\', \'bar\', \'spam\', \'eggs\']
         


        

Answer 1

another example, split on non alpha-numeric and keep the separators

import re
a = "foo,bar@candy*ice%cream"
re.split('([^a-zA-Z0-9])',a)

output:

['foo', ',', 'bar', '@', 'candy', '*', 'ice', '%', 'cream']

explanation

re.split('([^a-zA-Z0-9])',a)

() <- keep the separators
[] <- match everything in between
^a-zA-Z0-9 <-except alphabets, upper/lower and numbers.