Python String splitlines() Method

The splitlines() method in Python is used to split a string into a list of lines. It's especially useful when you're working with multiline strings, files, or text blocks where line breaks matter.

Syntax

string.splitlines(keepends=False)

Parameters:

• keepends (optional) – If True, line break characters (\n, \r, \r\n) are included in the output. Default is False.

Returns:

• A list of lines in the string.

Example 1: Basic Usage

text = "Hello\nWorld\nPython"
lines = text.splitlines()
print(lines)

['Hello', 'World', 'Python']

Example 2: Keeping Line Breaks

text = "Hello\nWorld\nPython"
lines = text.splitlines(keepends=True)
print(lines)

['Hello\n', 'World\n', 'Python']

Use Case: Reading File Content

When reading file content into a single string, you can use splitlines() to process each line easily.

with open("file.txt", "r") as file:
    content = file.read()
    lines = content.splitlines()
    for line in lines:
        print(line)

Line Breaks Handled

splitlines() automatically handles:

• \n – Unix/Linux line break
• \r\n – Windows line break
• \r – Old Mac line break

Common Mistakes

• Using split('\n') instead of splitlines() will miss other newline types like \r and \r\n.
• Forgetting to set keepends=True when line endings are important (e.g., in formatting).

Interview Tip

Use splitlines() in coding questions where you need to parse multi-line input efficiently. It’s cleaner than splitting manually with split('\n').

Summary

• splitlines() splits a string into lines based on all common line break characters.
• Returns a list of strings (lines).
• Use keepends=True to retain line break characters.

Practice Problem

Write a program that reads a multi-line input from the user and prints each line with its line number.

text = """Python\nIs\nAwesome"""
for i, line in enumerate(text.splitlines(), 1):
    print(f"Line {i}: {line}")