On Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:03:42 +0000, Neil Cerutti wrote: > I'm currently using the following without problems, while reading a data > file. One of the fields is a comma separated list, and may be empty. > > f = rec['codes'] > if f == "": > f = [] > else: > f = f.split(",") > > I just wondered if something smoother was available.
Seems pretty smooth to me. What's wrong with it? I assume you've put it into a function for ease of use and reduction of code duplication. You could also use the ternary operator, in which case it's a mere two- liner and short enough to inline wherever you need it: f = rec['codes'] f = f.split(",") if f else [] -- Steven -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list