Python How to Convert String to List Easily

You can convert a string to a list in Python by using list(your_string) to get a list of characters or your_string.split() to split the string into words.

Examples

Input"hello"

Output['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o']

Input"apple orange banana"

Output['apple', 'orange', 'banana']

Input""

Output[]

How to Think About It

To convert a string to a list, first decide if you want each character separately or words separated by spaces. Use list() to get characters or split() to get words as list items.

Algorithm

1

Get the input string.

2

If you want each character as a list item, apply <code>list()</code> to the string.

3

If you want words separated by spaces, apply <code>split()</code> to the string.

4

Return the resulting list.

Code

python

text = "hello world"
list_chars = list(text)
list_words = text.split()
print(list_chars)
print(list_words)

Output

['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ' ', 'w', 'o', 'r', 'l', 'd']
['hello', 'world']

Dry Run

Let's trace converting 'hello world' to a list of characters and words.

1

Convert to list of characters

list_chars = list('hello world') results in ['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ' ', 'w', 'o', 'r', 'l', 'd']

2

Convert to list of words

list_words = 'hello world'.split() results in ['hello', 'world']

Operation	Result
list('hello world')	['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o', ' ', 'w', 'o', 'r', 'l', 'd']
'hello world'.split()	['hello', 'world']

Why This Works

Step 1: Using list()

The list() function takes the string and creates a list where each character, including spaces, becomes an item.

Step 2: Using split()

The split() method breaks the string into parts separated by spaces and returns a list of these words.

Alternative Approaches

Using list comprehension

python

text = "hello"
list_chars = [char for char in text]
print(list_chars)

This creates a list of characters manually; useful if you want to add conditions or transformations.

Using split with custom separator

python

text = "apple,orange,banana"
list_items = text.split(",")
print(list_items)

Splits the string by commas instead of spaces, useful for CSV-like strings.

Complexity: O(n) time, O(n) space

Time Complexity

Both list() and split() iterate over the string once, so time grows linearly with string length.

Space Complexity

Both methods create a new list storing all characters or words, so space used is proportional to the string size.

Which Approach is Fastest?

list() and split() are both efficient; choose based on whether you want characters or words.

Approach	Time	Space	Best For
list()	O(n)	O(n)	List of characters
split()	O(n)	O(n)	List of words separated by spaces
List comprehension	O(n)	O(n)	Custom character processing
split() with separator	O(n)	O(n)	Splitting by custom delimiter