Maybe, you need the csv module: import csv mystring = "\"test1, test2\", test, 42"
# The one argument to csv.reader is an iterable object # You could use a file here... csv_reader = csv.reader([mystring]) for line in csv_reader: print line ['test1, test2', ' test', ' 42'] hth, jw On 6/28/05, scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > hi people ! > > <newbie> > i got some trouble with regular expressions > i need to split a string like this on the ',' character : > > mystring = ""\test1, test2\", test, 42" > > i wanna get something (a list) like this (3 elements) : > "test1, test2" > test > 42 > > but the only thing i get is a list like this (4 elements) : > "test1" > "test2" > test > 42 > > each element is separated by ',' but 1st element which is delimited by > '"' may contain ',' character inside. > > so the regular expression i need is something like : > split each element using ',' delimiter but if ',' delimiter is included > between '"' please do not split > </newbie> > > 1st question is : does someone has understood the question ? > 2nd question is : does someone has an answer ? > > thanks people > > scott > -- > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list > -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list