Split string at delimiter '\' in python

Question

I have a quick question. I am trying to split a string S : 'greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings' at '\' using:

     S.split('\')

I expect output list :

 ['greenland.gdb', 'topology_check', 't_buildings']. 

Instead it returns error : SyntaxError: EOL while scanning string literal. What is with character '\' in python. With any other character it works fine.

Answer 1

You need to escape the backslash:

 S.split('\\')

You may also need to string_escape:

In [10]: s = 'greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings'

In [11]: s.split("\\")
Out[11]: ['greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings']

In [12]: s.encode("string_escape").split("\\")
Out[12]: ['greenland.gdb', 'topology_check', 't_buildings']

\t would be interpreted as a tab character unless you were using a raw string:

In [18]: s = 'greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings'

In [19]: print(s)
greenland.gdb   opology_check   _buildings

In [20]: s = r'greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings'

In [21]: print(s)
greenland.gdb\topology_check\t_buildings

Escape characters