title: Python - Unicode to something split-able
body: <p>I need to break a date value down to it's elements ( <code>8/23/2011</code> ) which should be a piece of cake with   </p>
  
  <pre><code> variable.split("/") 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>but it tells me that </p>
  
  <pre><code>'unicode' object has no attribute 'Split'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I tried encoding it as a different format:</p>
  
  <pre><code>date.encode("utf-8")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>then it tells me that </p>
  
  <pre><code>'str' object has no attribute 'Split'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As A newbie to Python it seems like I've used split with strings before, but am not getting it to the right format or something.  Or perhaps there is another way that is even easier.</p>