str.split() takes no keyword arguments (Should this be expected?)

[sergioc]

BPO	1176
Nosy	@brettcannon, @birkenfeld

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2007-09-20.16:46:17.197>
created_at = <Date 2007-09-18.16:59:52.705>
labels = ['type-feature', 'library']
title = 'str.split() takes no keyword arguments (Should this be expected?)'
updated_at = <Date 2007-09-20.16:59:08.598>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/sergioc'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2007-09-20.16:59:08.598>
actor = 'sergioc'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2007-09-20.16:46:17.197>
closer = 'georg.brandl'
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2007-09-18.16:59:52.705>
creator = 'sergioc'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 1176
keywords = []
message_count = 5.0
messages = ['56002', '56003', '56023', '56058', '56059']
nosy_count = 3.0
nosy_names = ['brett.cannon', 'georg.brandl', 'sergioc']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'low'
resolution = 'works for me'
stage = None
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue1176'
versions = ['Python 2.5']

[sergioc]

str.split() does not accept maxsplits as a keyword argument.

If i want to split a string, and, say, get its first word, I do this:

>>> 'SPAM eggs eggs spam spam ham'.split(None, 1)[0]
'SPAM'

However, as documented on help(str.split), the separator is optional, so
I expected this to work:

>> 'SPAM eggs eggs spam spam ham'.split(maxsplit=1)

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<pyshell#8>", line 1, in <module>
    'SPAM eggs eggs spam spam ham'.split(maxsplit=1)
TypeError: split() takes no keyword arguments

I feel allowing keyword arguments is convenient, but is there a reason
behind not allowing them?

[sergioc]

As a side note, this is slightly related with:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2000-October/009694.html
http://bugs.python.org/issue1123
(but check the date of the first link!)

[brettcannon]

This is expected as str.split() is implemented in C and C code only has
keyword arguments if someone puts in the time and effort to support
them. Support could be added if so desired. But it does slow down
argument passing. If you look you will notice that none of str's
methods have keyword support.

Changing this to an rfe.

[birkenfeld]

Added to the documentation that string methods don't take keyword args
in rev. 58219. Closing this as "works for me".

[sergioc]

Thanks for the update,
Sergio