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Python - String Split including spaces

Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025

String splitting, including spaces refers to breaking a string into parts while keeping spaces as separate elements in the result.

re.split() function allows us to split a string based on a custom pattern. We can use it to split the string while capturing the spaces as separate elements.

import re

s = "Hello World Python"
# Split the string including spaces
res = re.split(r"(\s+)", s)
print(res)  

['Hello', ' ', 'World', ' ', 'Python']

• \s+ pattern matches one or more spaces.
• By wrapping \s+ in parentheses, we ensure spaces are captured as separate elements.
• This method is efficient and works well for strings with varying amounts of whitespace.

Let’s explore some more methods and see how we can split a string including spaces.

This method uses Python’s split() function along with list comprehension to manually handle spaces.

s = "Hello World Python"
# Split the string and add spaces back as separate elements
res = [part if part.strip() else " " for part in s.split(" ")]
print(res)  

['Hello', 'World', 'Python']

• split() function splits the string by spaces.
• List comprehension ensures spaces are included in the final result.
• This method is simple but less direct than using regular expressions.

We can manually iterate through the string to split it into words and spaces by using a simple for loop.

s = "Hello World Python" 
a = []  # List to store the result
temp = ""  # Temporary variable to accumulate characters

for c in s:  
    if c != " ":  # If the character is not a space
        temp += c  # Add character to current word
    else:  
        a.append(temp)  # Add word to result
        a.append(c)  # Add space as a separate element
        temp = ""  # Reset temp for next word

if temp:  # Add the last word if exists
    a.append(temp)

print(a)  

['Hello', ' ', 'World', ' ', 'Python']

• This method uses a for loop to separate words and spaces.
• Spaces are appended to the result list as separate elements.
• While longer, this method gives us precise control over how the string is split.

We can use itertools to split a string and include spaces with some advanced handling.

from itertools import chain

s = "Hello World Python"
res = list(chain.from_iterable((word, " ") for word in s.split(" ")))
if res[-1] == " ":
    res.pop()  # Remove trailing space
print(res) 

['Hello', ' ', 'World', ' ', 'Python']

• chain.from_iterable() function combines words and spaces into a single list.
• This method is more advanced and less intuitive but can be useful in certain cases.

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