python - I want to replace single quotes with double quotes in a list

Question

So I am making a program that takes a text file, breaks it into words, then writes the list to a new text file.

The issue I am having is I need the strings in the list to be with double quotes not single quotes.

For example

I get this ['dog','cat','fish'] when I want this ["dog","cat","fish"]

Here is my code

with open('input.txt') as f:
    file = f.readlines()
nonewline = []
for x in file:
    nonewline.append(x[:-1])
words = []
for x in nonewline:
    words = words + x.split()
textfile = open('output.txt','w')
textfile.write(str(words))

I am new to python and haven't found anything about this. Anyone know how to solve this?

[Edit: I forgot to mention that i was using the output in an arduino project that required the list to have double quotes.]

Answer 1

You cannot change how str works for list.

How about using JSON format which use " for strings.

>>> animals = ['dog','cat','fish']
>>> print(str(animals))
['dog', 'cat', 'fish']

>>> import json
>>> print(json.dumps(animals))
["dog", "cat", "fish"]

---

import json

...

textfile.write(json.dumps(words))