>>> l = [] >>> s = 'a|b' >>> t, l = s.split('|') >>> t 'a' >>> l 'b' >>> s = 'a|b|c|d' >>> t, l = s.split('|') Traceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? ValueError: too many values to unpack >>>
so, i imagine what is happening is the lhs, t,l, is really (t, (l)), i.e. only two items. so how should i have done this readably and simply? randy -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list