替换python列表中的特定字符

Question

I have a list named university_towns.txt which has a list as follows:

     ['Alabama[edit]\n',
        'Auburn (Auburn University)[1]\n',
        'Florence (University of North Alabama)\n',
        'Jacksonville (Jacksonville State University)[2]\n',
        'Livingston (University of West Alabama)[2]\n',
        'Montevallo (University of Montevallo)[2]\n',
        'Troy (Troy University)[2]\n',
        'Tuscaloosa (University of Alabama, Stillman College, Shelton State)[3]      [4]\n',
        'Tuskegee (Tuskegee University)[5]\n']

I want to clean this text file such that all the characters in parentheses are replaced by '' . So, I want my text file to look like:

['Alabama',
 'Auburn',
 'Florence',
 'Jacksonville',
 'Livingston',
 'Montevallo',
 'Troy',
 'Tuscaloosa,
 'Tuskegee',
 'Alaska',
 'Fairbanks',
 'Arizonan',
 'Flagstaff',
 'Tempe',
 'Tucson']

I am trying to do this as follows:

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
file = open('university_towns.txt','r')
lines = files.readlines()
for i in range(0,len(file)):
    lines[i] = lines[i].replace('[edit]','')
    lines[i] = lines[i].replace(r' \(.*\)','')

With this, I am able to remove '[edit]' but I am not able to remove the string in '( )' .

Answer 1

You may use regex along with list comprehension expression as:

import re

new_list = [re.match('\w+', i).group(0) for i in my_list]
#       match for word ^             ^ returns first word 

where my_list is the original list mentioned in question. Final value hold by new_list will be:

['Alabama', 
 'Auburn', 
 'Florence', 
 'Jacksonville', 
 'Livingston', 
 'Montevallo', 
 'Troy', 
 'Tuscaloosa', 
 'Tuskegee']

Answer 2

The replace method on a string replaces an actual substring. You need to use regex:

import re
#...
line[i] = re.sub(r' (.*)', '', line[i])

Answer 3

A simple regex should do the trick.

import re
output = [re.split(r'[[(]', s)[0].strip() for s in your_list]

Answer 4

You can use re.sub instead of replace

import re
# your code here
lines[i] = re.sub(r' \(.*\)','', lines[i])