Review of some string/list/file functions/methods: .split(): >>> s='Hi<bleep>there<bleep>Fred' >>> things=s.split('<bleep>') >>> print things ['Hi','there','Fred'] >>> another=s.split('<') >>> print another ['Hi','bleep>there','bleep>Fred'] >>> t='Hi;there;Fred;' >>> print t.split(';') ['Hi','there','Fred',''] # note the extra blank string at the end of the list >>> v=' Hi there Fred ' >>> v.split() ['Hi','there','Fred'] .join(): >>> lst=['Hi','there','Fred'] >>> p=','.join(lst) >>> print p Hi,there,Fred >>> print '\n'.join(lst) # notice how print displays strings Hi there Fred >>> '\n'.join(lst) # notice the difference between using print to display # a string, and just asking the shell to display it (as it's doing here) 'Hi\nthere\nFred'