Convert Array formatted as a string - Python

Question

I am receving a string through a socket like so

"['[0,0,0]','[0,0,0]']"

I would like to convert it back to a array. I have tried using

received.split(",")

however it splits up the arrays inside the array.

How would I go about converting the string to an array?

Answer 1

>>> import ast
>>> s = "['[0,0,0]','[0,0,0]']"
>>> s = ast.literal_eval(s)
>>> s
['[0,0,0]', '[0,0,0]']
>>> s = [ast.literal_eval(sub) for sub in s]
>>> s
[[0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0]] 

Using literal_eval is safer than eval . From the docs:

31.2. ast — Abstract Syntax Trees¶

ast.literal_eval(node_or_string)

Safely evaluate an expression node or a string containing a Python expression. The string or node provided may only consist of the following Python literal structures: strings, numbers, tuples, lists, dicts, booleans, and None.

This can be used for safely evaluating strings containing Python expressions from untrusted sources without the need to parse the values oneself.