Convert string to list of characters in Python?

Ways to convert string to a list of characters in Python

We can use the list() constructor to convert string to list of characters in Python.

To convert string to list of characters in Python:

  1. Use the list() function.

See the code below.

# Convert string to list of characters in Python
string = "educatepython"
# Use the list() function to convert string to list of characters
converted_list = list(string)
print(converted_list)
# Output: ['e', 'd', 'u', 'c', 'a', 't', 'e', 'p', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n']    

This is the most direct and efficient method to convert a string to a list of characters in Python.

Similarly, we can use the extend(). This function allows us to append all elements from an iterable to a list.

To convert string to list of characters in Python:

  1. Use the extend() function.

See the code below.

# Convert string to list of characters in Python
string = "educatepython"
# Use the extend() function to convert string to list of characters
converted_list = []
converted_list.extend(string)
print(converted_list)
# Output: ['e', 'd', 'u', 'c', 'a', 't', 'e', 'p', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n']    

Alternatively, we can also follow a traditional approach of using the for loop. We will use list comprehension to create a list in a single line of code using the for loop.

To convert string to list of characters in Python:

  1. Use the for loop to iterate over a list.

  2. Append each character using list comprehension.

See the code below.

# Convert string to list of characters in Python
string = "educatepython"
# Use the for loop to convert string to list of characters
converted_list = [a for a in string]
print(converted_list)
# Output: ['e', 'd', 'u', 'c', 'a', 't', 'e', 'p', 'y', 't', 'h', 'o', 'n']

To conclude

This tutorial demonstrated different methods to convert string to a list of characters in Python. The list() achieves this directly. The extend() function appends a string to an empty list as characters. Finally, the for loop can iterate over a list and add the elements individually.

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