Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced Python developer, the ability to manipulate and utilize lists is an essential skill. At times, we might find it necessary to split the elements in a list into separate lists or items. This tutorial will guide you step by step on how to go about this process in Python.

Step 1: Defining the List

Start by creating a list for us to work with. In Python, a list can be created by placing elements inside square brackets []. Each element is separated by a comma.

In this example, our list numbers_list consists of two strings. Each string is a sequence of numbers separated by commas.

Step 2: Splitting the List

To split the list elements, we will use the split() method. This Python built-in function splits a string into a list where each word is a list item. By default, it splits at the space.

We use a list comprehension to iterate through each item in numbers_list. The split function split(',') is used to split each item at the comma ,.

Step 3: Examining the Output

Now, we can print out our newly split list:

Output Result

[['1', '2', '3', '4', '5'], ['6', '7', '8', '9', '10']]

As you can see, split_list is a list of lists. Each original string was split at the commas, and the results were saved as separate lists within the main list.

Full Code

Conclusion

Splitting list elements in Python can be done effectively using the split() method. List comprehension allows us to apply this method to each item in the list in one line of code. This is just one of the ways Python’s built-in functions and techniques can make data manipulation easy and straightforward.