Efficient way to convert strings from split function to ints in Python

Question

I have a string of data with the following format: xpos-ypos-zoom (i.e. 8743-12083-15) that I want to split up and store in the variables xpos, ypos, and zoom. Since I need

Answer 1

You can map the function int on each substring, or use a list comprehension:

>>> file = '8743-12083-15'
>>> list(map(int, file.split('-')))
[8743, 12083, 15]
>>> [int(d) for d in file.split('-')]
[8743, 12083, 15]

In the above the call to list is not required, unless working with Python 3.x. (In Python 2.x map returns a list, in Python 3.x it returns a generator.)

Directly assigning to the three variables is also possible (in this case a generator expression instead of a list comprehension will do):

>>> xval, yval, zval = (int(d) for d in file.split('-'))
>>> xval, yval, zval
(8743, 12083, 15)