Keep first word of Python string? -

let's have list of full names, like:

names : ["katie von martin", "bob austin marley", "john travolta", "josh hartnett"] 

what function split each string , retain first word like?

def keepfirstname():     name in names:         ???? 

the easiest be:

def first_names(names):     name in names:         yield name.split()[0] 

e.g.

>>> print list(first_names(["katie von martin", "bob austin marley", "john travolta", "josh hartnett"])) ['katie', 'bob', 'john', 'josh'] 

there few circumstances may not want split string if want first word ... e.g. if strings really long. in case, can use str.find location of first space in string , can slice point give first name:

>>> def first_names(names): ...     name in names: ...         idx = name.find(' ') ...         yield name[:idx] if idx > 0 else name ...  >>> print list(first_names(["katie von martin", "bob austin marley", "john travolta", "josh hartnett"])) ['katie', 'bob', 'john', 'josh'] 

however, in practice, never necessary.