How can I split a url string up into separate parts in Python

>>> from urllib.parse import urlparse
>>> url = 'http://example.com/random/folder/path.html'
>>> parse_object = urlparse(url)
>>> parse_object.netloc
'example.com'
>>> parse_object.path
'/random/folder/path.html'
>>> parse_object.scheme
'http'
>>>

>>> from posixpath import basename, dirname
>>> basename(parse_object.path)
'path.html'
>>> dirname(parse_object.path)
'/random/folder'

>>> URL = "http://example.com/random/folder/path.html"
>>> Segments = URL.rpartition('/')
>>> Segments[0]
'http://example.com/random/folder'
>>> Segments[2]
'path.html'

(everything to the left of char , the character itself , everything to the right of char)

url = 'http://example.com/random/folder/path.html'
# Create a list of each bit between slashes
slashparts = url.split('/')
# Now join back the first three sections 'http:', '' and 'example.com'
basename = '/'.join(slashparts[:3]) + '/'
# All except the last one
dirname = '/'.join(slashparts[:-1]) + '/'
print 'slashparts = %s' % slashparts
print 'basename = %s' % basename
print 'dirname = %s' % dirname

split