Return a :class:`PseudoTable` with the pseudopotentials with the given list of chemical symbols.

        Args:
            symbols: str or list of symbols
                Prepend the symbol string with "-", to exclude pseudos.
            ret_list: if True a list of pseudos is returned instead of a :class:`PseudoTable`

def select_symbols(self, symbols, ret_list=False):
        """
        Return a :class:`PseudoTable` with the pseudopotentials with the given list of chemical symbols.

        Args:
            symbols: str or list of symbols
                Prepend the symbol string with "-", to exclude pseudos.
            ret_list: if True a list of pseudos is returned instead of a :class:`PseudoTable`
        """
        symbols = list_strings(symbols)
        exclude = symbols[0].startswith("-")

        if exclude:
            if not all(s.startswith("-") for s in symbols):
                raise ValueError("When excluding symbols, all strings must start with `-`")
            symbols = [s[1:] for s in symbols]

        symbols = set(symbols)
        pseudos = []
        for p in self:
            if exclude:
                if p.symbol in symbols: continue
            else:
                if p.symbol not in symbols: continue

            pseudos.append(p)

        if ret_list:
            return pseudos
        else:
            return self.__class__(pseudos)