title: python re split string by commas and space
body: <p>I need to split a string by commas and spaces. An example of the desired behavior is converting the string <code>'    5,    3,   , hello'</code> to the list <code>['5', '3', 'hello']</code>. Here's what I tried:</p>
  
  <pre><code>import re
  re.split(',|\s+', '    5,    3,   , hello')
  ['', '5', '', '3', '', '', '', 'hello']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Why are the blank entries being returned? How can I retrieve the list  <code>['5', '3', 'hello']</code>?</p>