Creating bullet-list from string with delimiters

Question

I want to create a bullet list from a string with delimiters in it.

The delimiter in my example is |

Example string:

This is|A bullet|List from|A string

I want to get that to become a bulletlist like this:

• This is
• A bullet
• List from
• A string

What do I need to do this? Some extra packages or?

I can use any delimiter but , since the string comes from a CSV file that gets parsed with csvsimple if that makes it easier.

MWE (after suggestions in answer):

\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage{csvsimple}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
  \csvreader[head to column names]{content/usecases.csv}{}{%
    \begin{table}
      \begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
        \hline
        Name             & \ucname \\ \hline
        Pre conditions   & 
          \begin{itemize}
            \renewcommand*{\do}[1]{\item #1}%
            \ListParser{\preconditions} %
          \end{itemize} \\ \hline
      \end{tabular}
    \end{table}
  }
\end{document}

CSV Example:

ucname,precondition
test,This is|A test
test2,Barely
test3,No List
test4,List|Again|Here

Follow-up posted here: Auto generate list-items within table from string with delimiter

Answer 1

You can define you own list parser using the etoolbox package:

Notes:

• You can have commas in the list elements, and still use a comma as a separator by applying an additional grouping as illustrated in the second MWE below.

---

Code: Using | as a separator

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\DeclareListParser{\MyListParser}{|}

\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
    \renewcommand*{\do}[1]{\item #1}%
    \MyListParser{This, has a comma in it|A bullet, and also a comma|List from|A string}%
\end{itemize}
\end{document}

Code: Using , as a separator

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{etoolbox}

\DeclareListParser{\MyListParser}{,}

\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
    \renewcommand*{\do}[1]{\item #1}%
    \MyListParser{{This, has a comma in it},{A bullet, and also a comma},{List from},{A string}}%
\end{itemize}

Answer 2

Here's an approach with xparse and expl3. The command \parselist has an optional argument (the delimiter, default |) and two mandatory ones

1. the column name or, in general, the control sequence containing the delimited data and

2. the code to be executed, where #1 stands for the current item (after splitting).

In the example below, the marker is ##1 because \parselist is in the argument to \csvreader.

\documentclass{scrreprt}
\usepackage{csvsimple,array}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\parselist}{O{|}mm}
 {% #1 is the delimiter, #2 is the column name, #3 is the code to use
  \nielsen_parselist:nnn { #1 } { #2 } { #3 }
 }

\seq_new:N \l__nielsen_data_seq

\cs_new_protected:Npn \nielsen_parselist:nnn #1 #2 #3
 {
  \seq_set_split:Nnf \l__nielsen_data_seq { #1 } { #2 }
  \seq_map_inline:Nn \l__nielsen_data_seq { #3 }
 }

\cs_generate_variant:Nn \seq_set_split:Nnn { Nnf }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\csvreader[head to column names]{\jobname.csv}{}{%
  \begin{table}
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
  \hline
  Name             & \ucname \\ \hline
  Pre conditions   &
    \begin{minipage}[t]{.3\textwidth}
    \begin{itemize}
    \parselist{\preconditions}{\item ##1}
    \vspace{\smallskipamount}
    \end{itemize}
    \end{minipage} \\
  \hline
  \end{tabular}
  \end{table}
}
\end{document}