split many

split_many.py

def split_many(astring, *split_on_chars, **kwargs):
    """
    Split a string on many values.

    :param split_on_chars: string to split
    :type split_on_chars: basestring
    :param split_on_chars: chars to split on
    :type split_on_chars: tuple
    :param kwargs: keep_empty: keeps empty strings in result, which happens with two adjacent separators in a string
    :type kwargs: dict
    """
    keep_empty = kwargs.get('keep_empty') or False
    split_all = kwargs.get('split_all') or False
    lenchars = len(split_on_chars)
    if not lenchars:
        split_on_chars = (' ',)
    if lenchars == 1:
        result = astring.split(split_on_chars[0])
    else:
        lastchar = split_on_chars[-1]
        result = reduce(lambda st, ch: st.replace(ch,lastchar), split_on_chars[:-1], astring).split(lastchar)
    if not keep_empty:
        result = filter(lambda x: x is not '', result)
    return result

def test_split_many():
    thestr = 'a_string with.many:_separators. '
    split_chars = [' ',':', ',', '_', '.']
    
    try:
        expected = ['a', 'string', 'with', 'many', 'separators']
        assert expected == split_many(thestr, *split_chars)

        expected = ['a_string', 'with.many:_separators.']
        assert expected == split_many(thestr)

        expected = ['a', 'string', 'with', 'many', 'separators']
        assert expected == split_many(thestr, *split_chars)

        expected = ['a', 'string', 'with', 'many', '', 'separators', '', '']
        assert expected == split_many(thestr, *split_chars, keep_empty=True)
    except AssertionError:
        print 'test failed'
        raise
    else:
        print 'test passed'
# test_split_many()