Python: Get URL path sections

Extract the path component of the URL with urlparse:

>>> import urlparse
>>> path = urlparse.urlparse('http://www.example.com/hithere/something/else').path
>>> path
'/hithere/something/else'

Split the path into components with os.path.split:

>>> import os.path
>>> os.path.split(path)
('/hithere/something', 'else')

The dirname and basename functions give you the two pieces of the split; perhaps use dirname in a while loop:

>>> while os.path.dirname(path) != '/':
...     path = os.path.dirname(path)
... 
>>> path
'/hithere'

Python 3.4+ solution:

from urllib.parse import unquote, urlparse
from pathlib import PurePosixPath

url = 'http://www.example.com/hithere/something/else'

PurePosixPath(
    unquote(
        urlparse(
            url
        ).path
    )
).parts[1]

# returns 'hithere' (the same for the URL with parameters)

# parts holds ('/', 'hithere', 'something', 'else')
#               0    1          2            3