"Splitting an empty string with a specified separator returns ['']"—but I'd prefer [] instead
<p>I'm splitting a string using:</p>

<pre><code>my_string.split(',')
</code></pre>

<p>Sometimes the string is empty, which returns <code>['']</code>. </p>

<p>My use-case is such that it would be more convenient to receive an empty list. In my application, an empty string is equivalent to no items. <code>['']</code>, however, is a list with one item, <code>''</code>. </p>

<p>Is there a way I can get around this without conditional or additional logic? I've got a dictionary key assignment that's like:</p>

<pre><code>d = {
    'key': map(lambda x: x.strip(), my_string.split(',')),
}
</code></pre>

<p>It would be cool to keep it  this way, all directly at the key assignment.</p>
