Python: How can I calculate the average word length in a sentence using the .split command?

Question

new to python here. I am trying to write a program that calculate the average word length in a sentence and I have to do it using the .split command. btw im using python 3.2

Answer 1

as a modular :

import re

def avg_word_len(s):
    words = s.split(' ') # presuming words split by ' '. be watchful about '.' and '?' below
    words = [re.sub(r'[^\w\s]','',w) for w in words] # re sub '[^\w\s]' to remove punctuations first
    return sum(len(w) for w in words)/float(len(words)) # then calculate the avg, dont forget to render answer as a float

if __name__ == "__main__":
    s = raw_input("Enter a sentence")
    print avg_word_len(s)