title: How to convert string back to list using Pandas
body: <p>I have a txt file with some data and one of the columns is like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>['BONGO', 'TOZZO', 'FALLO', 'PINCO']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In order to load the file I use the pandas function <code>to_csv</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Once the dataframe is loaded it looks like the content is ok but then I realize that the item within the dataframe is not a list of items but a string whose elements are the characters of the list!</p>
  
  <p><code>df['column']</code> returns a string like this</p>
  
  <pre><code>"['BONGO', 'TOZZO', 'FALLO', 'PINCO']"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>instead of a list like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>['BONGO', 'TOZZO', 'FALLO', 'PINCO']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Therefore if I type <code>df['column'][0]</code> I get <code>'['</code> instead of <code>BONGO</code></p>
  
  <p>What should I do in order to transform the string back to its original list format? Is there any input to the <code>to_csv</code> function that I should use?</p>