does python store strings as char array code example

Example 1: python string to char array

>>> s = "foobar"
>>> list(s)
['f', 'o', 'o', 'b', 'a', 'r']

Example 2: how to save string characters into char array or list in python

fd = open(filename, 'rU')
chars = []
for line in fd:
    chars.extend(line)