def str2lst(astr_input, astr_separator=" "):
  """
  Breaks a string at <astr_separator> and joins into a
  list. Steps along all list elements and strips white
  space.

  The list elements are explicitly ascii encoded.
  """
  alistI = astr_input.split(astr_separator)
  alistJ = []
  for i in range(0, len(alistI)):
    alistI[i] = alistI[i].strip()
    alistI[i] = alistI[i].encode('ascii')
    if len(alistI[i]):
      alistJ.append(alistI[i])
  return alistJ
Breaks a string at <astr_separator> and joins into a
  list. Steps along all list elements and strips white
  space.

  The list elements are explicitly ascii encoded.