Python String splitlines() Method

Splits a string at line breaks

Usage

The splitlines() method splits a string at line breaks and returns them in a list.

If the optional keepends argument is specified and TRUE, line breaks are included in the resulting list.

Syntax

string.splitlines(keepends)

Basic Example

# Split a string at '\n' into a list
S = 'First line\nSecond line'
x = S.splitlines()
print(x)
# Prints ['First line', 'Second line']

Different Line breaks

Newline \n, carriage return \r and form feed \f are common examples of line breaks.

S = 'First\nSecond\r\nThird\fFourth'
x = S.splitlines()
print(x)
# Prints ['First', 'Second', 'Third', 'Fourth']

Keep Line Breaks in Result

If the optional keepends argument is specified and TRUE, line breaks are included in the resulting list.

S = 'First line\nSecond line'
x = S.splitlines(True)
print(x)
# Prints ['First line\n', 'Second line']

splitlines() vs split() on Newline

There are mainly two differences:

1. Unlike split(), splitlines() returns an empty list for the empty string.

# splitlines()
S = ''
x = S.splitlines()
print(x)
# Prints []

# split()
S = ''
x = S.split('\n')
print(x)
# Prints ['']

2. When you use splitlines() a terminal line break does not result in an extra line.

# splitlines()
S = 'One line\n'
x = S.splitlines()
print(x)
# Prints ['One line']

# split()
S = 'One line\n'
x = S.split('\n')
print(x)
# Prints ['One line', '']