str.splitlines()

Added in v3.x · Updated March 13, 2026 · String Methods

stdlib string methods

The splitlines() method breaks a string into a list of lines. It handles different line ending characters automatically—including Unix (\n), Windows (\r\n), and old Mac (\r) line endings—making it more convenient than manually splitting on \n.

Signature

str.splitlines(keepends=False)

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`keepends`	bool	`False`	If `True`, line endings are included in the resulting strings.

Return Value

Returns a list of lines. The line endings themselves are not included in the substrings unless keepends is set to True.

Basic Examples

# Simple multiline string
text = "first line\nsecond line\nthird line"
text.splitlines()
# Result: ['first line', 'second line', 'third line']

# Works with different line endings
"line1\r\nline2\rline3".splitlines()
# Result: ['line1', 'line2', 'line3']

# Empty lines are preserved
"line1\n\nline3".splitlines()
# Result: ['line1', '', 'line3']

The keepends Parameter

When keepends=True, the line endings are preserved in the resulting strings:

# Keep line endings
"line1\nline2".splitlines(keepends=True)
# Result: ['line1\n', 'line2']

# Useful for reconstructing with different line endings
lines = "one\ntwo\nthree".splitlines(keepends=True)
"".join(lines)
# Result: 'one\ntwo\nthree'

# With Windows-style line endings
"a\r\nb\r\nc".splitlines(keepends=True)
# Result: ['a\r\n', 'b\r\n', 'c']

How It Differs from `split('\n')`

Using splitlines() is generally preferred over split('\n') because it handles all line ending styles correctly:

# Using split('\n') - doesn't handle all cases
"line1\r\nline2".split('\n')
# Result: ['line1\r', 'line2']  -遗留 \r!

# Using splitlines() - handles it properly
"line1\r\nline2".splitlines()
# Result: ['line1', 'line2']

# Another edge case: trailing newline
"text\n".split('\n')
# Result: ['text', '']  - includes empty string at end

"text\n".splitlines()
# Result: ['text']  - clean result

Common Use Cases

Reading file contents

# When you read a file into a string
content = "line one\nline two\nline three"
lines = content.splitlines()

# Process each line
for line in lines:
    print(f"Processing: {line}")

Processing user input or pasted text

# Text pasted from a form or clipboard
user_text = "apple\r\nbanana\r\ncherry"
fruits = user_text.splitlines()
# fruits = ['apple', 'banana', 'cherry']

Splitting output from commands

# Simulating command output
output = "file1.txt\nfile2.txt\nfile3.txt"
files = output.splitlines()
# files = ['file1.txt', 'file2.txt', 'file3.txt']

Preserving structure with keepends

# Transform line endings while preserving structure
original = "line1\r\nline2\r\nline3"
lines = original.splitlines(keepends=True)

# Convert to Unix-style line endings
new_text = "".join(lines).replace("\r\n", "\n")
# new_text = 'line1\nline2\nline3'

Practical Notes

splitlines() recognizes \n (Unix), \r\n (Windows), \r (old Mac), \v (vertical tab), \f (form feed), and \x85 (next line) as line boundaries
A string ending with a line ending will not produce an extra empty string at the end
For simple use cases where you know the line ending, split('\n') works—but splitlines() is safer and more readable