split and splitfields function cause an error when the program run

split and splitfields function cause an error when the program run

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Traceback (most recent call last):
File "./read-ifconfig_1.py", line 15, in ?
split(eth0,":",0)
NameError: name 'split' is not defined


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#!/usr/bin/python

import os, sys, os.path, operator, string

f = os.popen3("ifconfig")
if_config_list = string.strip ( f[1].read() ).split(" ")

eth0 = if_config_list[23]
eth1 = if_config_list[140]
print "\neth0 = ", eth0
print "\neth1 = ", eth1

#eth0 now has a format of addr:216.143.22.145

#I want to get rid of the word "addr:" from the value eth0
eth0_split = split(eth0,":",0)
print "\neth0_split = ", eth0_split

The statement below will solve the problem. As for the original problem, the function
split(s[, sep[, maxsplit]]) and
splitfields(s[, sep[, maxsplit]]) are defined in the Python manual I am not sure why it does not work.
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for i in eth0:
eth0_split = eth0.split(":",1)

print "The colon split at position number. i = ", i
print "eth0_split = ", eth0_split

That's because split and splitfields are in the string module. Either import everything from the string module like this:
from string import *
foo = split(somestring, separator)

or qualify the namespace:
import string
foo = string.split(somestring, separator)

Thank you Scorpions4ever. You are always a big help.