Remove first sub-list in a list (nested lists)

Question

Hello!

I am a beginner at python and I have a question regarding nested lists and how to separete them.

Let's say I have a txt-file that looks like this:

------------------------------
one 1
2 3 hi hello 
2 3 hi
-----------------------------
two 2
2 3 hi
2 3 hi bye bye
------------------------------

Then I have managed on my own to create a big list with smaller lists:

Big_list = [[----------]['one', 1],[2,3,'hi','hello'],[2,3,'hi'],[----------]['two', 2],[2,3,'hi'],[2,3,'hi','bye','bye]

Now I have a question regarding how to get the result like this:

Big_list = [[['one', 1],2,3,'hi','hello'],[['one', 1],2,3,'hi'],[['two', 2],2,3,'hi'],[['two', 2]2,3,'hi','bye','bye]]]

I have tried to do this:

for lists in big_list:
        for index in lists:
            if len(lists) == 1: 
                break
            else:
                if lists [0][0] == str:
                    save = []
                    save.append(lists[0]
                    del(lists[0])
                    break
                else:
                    separated_schedule.append(lists)
                    break

If the length is one for the list containing: '-------' it should skip that list.

Then, if the first character in one of the small lists is a str I want to separate/ take out that entire list and save it separately.

Then I want to remove that small list from the big list.

I want to add the saved list in the beginning of each of the lists in the "corresponding rows" and maybe save those in a new list?

This is where I get stuck!

Answer 1

If you already have Big_list consisting of smaller lists you can do:

Big_list = [
    ["----------"],
    ["one", 1],
    [2, 3, "hi", "hello"],
    [2, 3, "hi"],
    ["----------"],
    ["two", 2],
    [2, 3, "hi"],
    [2, 3, "hi", "bye", "bye"],
]


out, flag, current = [], False, None
for l in Big_list:
    if len(l) == 1 and "---" in l[0]:
        flag = True
    elif flag:
        current = l
        flag = False
    else:
        out.append([current, *l])

print(out)

this prints:

[
    [["one", 1], 2, 3, "hi", "hello"],
    [["one", 1], 2, 3, "hi"],
    [["two", 2], 2, 3, "hi"],
    [["two", 2], 2, 3, "hi", "bye", "bye"],
]

---

_{Edit: Updated the answer with new input.}