How to convert degree minute second to degree decimal

Here's my one liner (fine, fine – maybe it's two lines) :)

import re
lat = '''51°36'9.18"N'''
deg, minutes, seconds, direction =  re.split('[°\'"]', lat)
(float(deg) + float(minutes)/60 + float(seconds)/(60*60)) * (-1 if direction in ['W', 'S'] else 1)

This outputs 51.60255

The problem is that the seconds 44.29458 are split at ..

You could either define the split characters directly (instead of where not to split):

>>> re.split('[°\'"]+', """78°55'44.29458"N""")
['78', '55', '44.29458', 'N']

or leave the regular expression as it is and merge parts 2 and 3:

dms2dd(parts[0], parts[1], parts[2] + "." + parts[3], parts[4])

---

Update:

Your method call dd = parse_dms("78°55'44.33324"N ) is a syntax error. Add the closing " and escape the other one. Or use tripple quotes for the string definition:

parse_dms("""78°55'44.29458"N""")

The function above (dms2dd) is incorrect.

Actual (With error):

if direction == 'E' or direction == 'N': dd *= -1

Corrected Condition:

if direction == 'W' or direction == 'S': dd *= -1