Here is another solution:

import re
my_list= ["on@3", "two#", "thre%e"]
print [re.sub('[^a-zA-Z0-9]+', '', _) for _ in my_list]

output:

['on3', 'two', 'three']
Answer from Mahesh Karia on Stack Overflow
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Know Program
knowprogram.com › home › remove special characters from list python
Remove Special Characters From list Python - Know Program
April 29, 2021 - We are using the join() method to remove special characters. In the generator function, we specify the logic to ignore the characters in special_char and hence constructing out_list free from special characters.
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Scaler
scaler.com › home › topics › remove special characters from string python
Remove Special Characters From String Python - Scaler Topics
January 6, 2024 - The sample_list is a list of normal characters selected by using the isalnum() function. ... Scaler learners achieved 2.5x salary growth with average post-Scaler CTC reaching ₹23L. ... The replace() method in python can be used to remove specified special characters from the string.
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Toppr
toppr.com › guides › python-guide › questions › how-do-i-remove-special-characters-from-a-list-in-python
How do I remove Special Characters from a List in Python?
August 4, 2021 - Define all the special characters in a string and then iterate the required list through FOR loop to remove the special characters in Python.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-removing-unwanted-characters-from-string
Remove Special Characters from String in Python - GeeksforGeeks
July 11, 2025 - This method is both Pythonic and easy to understand, with good performance on medium-sized strings. ... Explanation: list comprehension iterate through each character in the string s and includes only those that are alphanumeric using char.isalnum(). The join() function then combines these characters into a new string. translate() method removes or replaces specific characters in a string based on a translation table.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › python › python-remove-trailing-leading-special-characters-from-strings-list
Python | Remove trailing/leading special characters from strings list - GeeksforGeeks
May 16, 2023 - In this, we employ strip(), which has the ability to remove the trailing and leading special unwanted characters from string list. The map(), is used to extend the logic to each element in list.
Top answer
1 of 2
3

If you want to remove all non-letters chars, try:

words = ["".join(filter(lambda c: c.isalpha(), word)) for word in words]
print(words)
2 of 2
2

You can use built in shortcuts rather than have to specify all of the special characters. Here's a way to remove everything but "word characters":

import re

inp = ['rt', '@', 'dark', 'money', 'has', 'played', 'a', '#significant', 'role', 'in', 'tRhe', 'overall', 'increase', 'of', 'election', 'spending', 'in', 'state', 'judicial', 'elections.', 'https://e85zq', 'rt', '@', 'notice,', 'women,', 'how', 'you', 'are', 'always', 'the', 'target', 'of', 'democrats’', 'fear', 'mongering', 'in', 'an', 'election', 'year', 'or', 'scotus', 'confirmation.', 'it', 'is', 'not', 'because', 'our', 'rights', 'are', 'actually', 'at', 'risk.', 'it', 'is', 'because', 'we', 'are', 'easily', 'manipulated.', 'goes', 'allll', 'the', 'way', 'back', 'to', 'eve.', 'resist', 'hysteria', '&', 'think.', 'rt', '@', 'oct', '5:', 'last', 'day', 'to', 'register', 'to', 'vote.', 'oct', '13:', 'early', 'voting', 'starts.', 'oct', '23:', 'last', 'day', 'to', 'request', 'a', 'mail-in', 'ballot.', 'nov', '3:', 'election', 'day', 'rt', '@']

outp = [re.sub(r"[^A-Za-z]+", '', s) for s in inp]

print(outp)

Result:

['rt', '', 'dark', 'money', 'has', 'played', 'a', 'significant', 'role', 'in', 'tRhe', 'overall', 'increase', 'of', 'election', 'spending', 'in', 'state', 'judicial', 'elections', 'httpse85zq', 'rt', '', 'notice', 'women', 'how', 'you', 'are', 'always', 'the', 'target', 'of', 'democrats', 'fear', 'mongering', 'in', 'an', 'election', 'year', 'or', 'scotus', 'confirmation', 'it', 'is', 'not', 'because', 'our', 'rights', 'are', 'actually', 'at', 'risk', 'it', 'is', 'because', 'we', 'are', 'easily', 'manipulated', 'goes', 'allll', 'the', 'way', 'back', 'to', 'eve', 'resist', 'hysteria', 'amp', 'think', 'rt', '', 'oct', '5', 'last', 'day', 'to', 'register', 'to', 'vote', 'oct', '13', 'early', 'voting', 'starts', 'oct', '23', 'last', 'day', 'to', 'request', 'a', 'mailin', 'ballot', 'nov', '3', 'election', 'day', 'rt', '']

The ^ character here means match everything NOT mentioned in the set of characters that follow inside a [] pair. \w means "word characters" . So the whole thing says "match everything but word characters." The nice thing about using a regular expression is that you can get arbitrarily precise as to just which characters you want to include or exclude.

No need to slice the result with [:100 to print it. Just print it as is, like I do. I assume that by using 100, you're wanting to make sure you go to the end of the list. The better way to do that is to just leave that component blank. So [:] means "take a slice of the string that is the full string", and [5:] means "take from the 6th character to the end of the string".

UPDATE: I just noticed that you said you don't want numbers in the result. So then I guess you just want letters. I changed the expression to do that. This is what's nice about a regular expression. You can tweak just what gets replaced without adding additional calls, loops, etc. but rather just change a string value.

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Python Forum
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Remove special character from list
Hi guys, if I would to put ' symbol in the symbols, it is obvious that I won't be getting the desire outcome. I would like to preserve the ' symbol on don't isn't and wouldn't. I've tried with endswith method but still got it wrong. Hope you could h...
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Delft Stack
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How to Remove Special Characters From the String in Python | Delft Stack
February 2, 2024 - This method applies the translation table and returns a new string with the specified character substitutions or removals. The map() function is a built-in Python function that applies a given function to each item of an iterable (e.g., a list, tuple, or string) and returns an iterator. When combined with a lambda function, map() can be a concise and efficient way to perform element-wise operations on a collection. # Example string with special characters original_string = "Hey!
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Medium
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Remove Special Characters from Strings in Python: Complete Guide | by ryan | Medium
January 7, 2025 - Python strings often come with unwanted special characters — whether you’re cleaning up user input, processing text files, or handling data from an API. Let’s look at several practical methods to clean up these strings, with clear examples and real-world applications. The simplest way to remove specific special characters is with Python’s built-in string methods.
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DigitalOcean
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How to Remove Characters from a String in Python | DigitalOcean
Remove characters from a Python string with replace(), translate(), re.sub(), and slicing. Compare methods, see examples, and pick the right approach.
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Stack Overflow
stackoverflow.com › questions › 79936126 › how-to-remove-items-from-a-list-that-contain-special-characters-while-iterating
python - How to remove items from a list that contain special characters while iterating - Stack Overflow
Let's say I have a list called words that contains some items with special characters (anything not alphanumerical). for i in words: #check if i contains special characters and return True or False #if True, remove i from words