ident = Word(alphas, alphanums) num = Word(nums) func = Forward() term = ident | num | Group('(' + func + ')') func <<= ident + Group(Optional(delimited_list(term))) result = func.parse_string("fna a,b,(fnb c,d,200),100") result.pprint(width=40) prints:: ['fna', ['a', 'b', ['(', 'fnb', ['c', 'd', '200'], ')'], '100']] N)