covert a string which is a list into a proper list python

Question

How do I convert this string which is a list into a proper list?

mylist = "['KYS_Q5Aa8', 'KYS_Q5Aa9']"

I tired this but its not what I was expecting:

print mylist.split()
["['KYS_Q5Aa8',", "'KYS_Q5Aa9']"]

I'd like it like this:

['KYS_Q5Aa8','KYS_Q5Aa9']

Answer 1

Use literal_eval from the ast module:

>>> import ast
>>> ast.literal_eval("['KYS_Q5Aa8', 'KYS_Q5Aa9']")
['KYS_Q5Aa8', 'KYS_Q5Aa9']

Unlike eval, literal_eval is safe to use on user strings or other unknowns string sources. It will only compile strings into basic python data structures -- all others fail.

Alternatively, if your string is just like that (ie, no embedded commas or meaning to parse inside the sub quoted strings) you could coerce split to do what you want do too:

>>> mystring = "['KYS_Q5Aa8', 'KYS_Q5Aa9']"
>>> [e.strip("' ") for e in mystring.strip('[] ').split(',')]
['KYS_Q5Aa8', 'KYS_Q5Aa9']