Python String splitlines()

# \n is a line boundary 
sentence = 'I\nlove\nPython\nProgramming.'

# returns a list after spliting string at line breaks 
resulting_list = sentence.splitlines()

print(resulting_list)

# Output: ['I', 'love', 'Python', 'Programming.']

splitlines() Syntax

The syntax of the splitlines() method is:

string.splitlines([keepends])

Here, keepends can be True or any number.

splitlines() Parameters

The splitlines() method can take a single parameter:

• keepends(optional) - it determines whether line breaks are included in the resulting list or not. It's value can be True or any number.

splitlines() Return Value

The splitlines() method returns:

• a list of lines in the string.

If there are not line break characters, it returns a list with a single item (a single line).

Example 1: Python String splitlines()

# '\n' is a line break 
grocery = 'Milk\nChicken\nBread\rButter'

# returns a list after splitting the grocery string  
print(grocery.splitlines())

Output

['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']

In the above example, we have used the splitlines() method to split the grocery string i.e. 'Milk\nChicken\r\nBread\rButter' at the line breaks.

Here, grocery.splitlines() splits grocery at line break '\n' and returns a list '['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']' after removing the line break.

Example 2: splitlines() with Multi Line String

We can also split the lines from multi line strings using the splitlines() method. For example,

# multi line string 
grocery = '''Milk
Chicken
Bread
Butter'''

# returns a list after splitting the grocery string
print(grocery.splitlines())

Output

['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']

Here, the splitlines() method splits the multi line string grocery and returns the list ['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter'].

Example 3: Passing Boolean Value in splitlines()

grocery = 'Milk\nChicken\nBread\rButter'

# returns a list including line breaks 
resulting_list1 = grocery.splitlines(True)
print(resulting_list1)

# returns a list without including line breaks 
resulting_list2 = grocery.splitlines(False)
print(resulting_list2)

Output

['Milk\n', 'Chicken\n', 'Bread\r', 'Butter']
['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']

In the above example, we have passed Boolean values True and False in the splitlines method to split 'Milk\nChicken\nBread\rButter'.

Here, in the method on passing:

• True - returns a list including linebreaks in all items i.e. '['Milk\n', 'Chicken\n', 'Bread\r', 'Butter']'
• False - returns a list without including linebreaks in the items i.e. ['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']

Example 4: Passing Number in splitlines()

The splitlines() method takes an integer value as parameter. Here, 0 represents True and other positive or negative numbers indicate False. For example,

grocery = 'Milk\nChicken\nBread\rButter'

# returns list including line breaks 
resulting_list1 = grocery.splitlines(0)
print(resulting_list1)

# returns list without including line breaks 
resulting_list2 = grocery.splitlines(5)
print(resulting_list2)

Output

['Milk\n', 'Chicken\n', 'Bread\r', 'Butter']
['Milk', 'Chicken', 'Bread', 'Butter']

Also Read:

• Python String split()
• Python String rsplit()