Decypher complex (to me) statement

[ichabod801]

Are you sure it isn't event_arr = [x for x in _485_trace.split(",") if x]? As wavic says, split with a space will split where there is a space. However, there are no spaces in the sample input you gave. It seems like comma separated values, so I'd think you would pass a comma to split to get ["UC_COMMAND", "bOptionalArg1", "bOptionalArgN\n"].