Python Forum

my .csv file could have numbers or quoted strings between the commas. this seems to be the same syntax as that found in a Python literal for a list. so what if i read in a line, .strip() it, prepend '[' to the front, append ']' to the end, and run that through exec() and verify that what is returned is a single simple list with just numbers and strings in it?

I would definitely use csv module, but if you insist on your approach, at least use ast.literal_eval()

>>>import ast
>>> line = '[1, "some text, with comma", "1,000.5"]'
>>> ast.literal_eval(line)
[1, 'some text, with comma', '1,000.5']

it looks like ast.literal_eval() is the way to go.