How to convert string to list in python. Like "['a']' to ['a']

Question

I have a list from a database in the form of a string, and I want to convert this string to a list. For example if I get '["a","b"]' , I want to convert it into this: ["a","b"] .

I've tried list() method.

userf = user.pending
print(userf)
#userf is "['animation']"
userf.append(tosend).save()

Answer 1

Use literal_eval

import ast

l = '["a","b"]'

ast.literal_eval(l)

output

['a', 'b']