Python Regular Expressions

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A regular expression is a special sequence of characters that helps you match

or find other strings or sets of strings, using a specialized syntax held in a
pattern. Regular expressions are widely used in UNIX world.

The module re provides full support for Perl-like regular expressions in

Python. The re module raises the exception re.error if an error occurs while
compiling or using a regular expression.

We would cover two important functions, which would be used to handle

regular expressions. But a small thing first: There are various characters,
which would have special meaning when they are used in regular expression.
To avoid any confusion while dealing with regular expressions, we would use
Raw Strings as r'expression'.

The match Function

This function attempts to match RE pattern to string with optional flags.

Here is the syntax for this function −

re.match(pattern, string, flags=0)

Here is the description of the parameters:

Parameter Description

pattern This is the regular expression to be matched.

 string This is the string, which would be searched to match the
pattern at the beginning of string.

flags You can specify different flags using bitwise OR (|).

These are modifiers, which are listed in the table below.

The re.match function returns a match object on success, None on failure.

We usegroup(num) or groups() function of match object to get matched
expression.

Match Object Description

Methods

group(num=0) This method returns entire match (or specific subgroup

num)

groups() This method returns all matching subgroups in a tuple

(empty if there weren't any)

Example
#!/usr/bin/python
import re

line = "Cats are smarter than dogs"

matchObj = re.match( r'(.*) are (.*?) .*', line, re.M|re.I)

if matchObj:
print "matchObj.group() : ", matchObj.group()
print "matchObj.group(1) : ", matchObj.group(1)
print "matchObj.group(2) : ", matchObj.group(2)
else:
print "No match!!"
When the above code is executed, it produces following result −

matchObj.group() : Cats are smarter than dogs

matchObj.group(1) : Cats
matchObj.group(2) : smarter

The search Function

This function searches for first occurrence of RE pattern within string with
optional flags.

Here is the syntax for this function:

re.search(pattern, string, flags=0)

Here is the description of the parameters:

Parameter Description

pattern This is the regular expression to be matched.

string This is the string, which would be searched to match the

pattern anywhere in the string.

flags You can specify different flags using bitwise OR (|).

These are modifiers, which are listed in the table below.

The re.search function returns a match object on success, none on failure.

We use group(num) or groups() function of match object to get matched
expression.

Match Object Description

Methods

group(num=0) This method returns entire match (or specific subgroup

num)
 groups() This method returns all matching subgroups in a tuple
(empty if there weren't any)

Example
#!/usr/bin/python
import re

line = "Cats are smarter than dogs";

searchObj = re.search( r'(.*) are (.*?) .*', line, re.M|re.I)

if searchObj:
print "searchObj.group() : ", searchObj.group()
print "searchObj.group(1) : ", searchObj.group(1)
print "searchObj.group(2) : ", searchObj.group(2)
else:
print "Nothing found!!"

When the above code is executed, it produces following result −

searchObj.group() : Cats are smarter than dogs

searchObj.group(1) : Cats
searchObj.group(2) : smarter

Matching Versus Searching

Python offers two different primitive operations based on regular
expressions: match checks for a match only at the beginning of the string,
while searchchecks for a match anywhere in the string (this is what Perl does
by default).

Example
#!/usr/bin/python
import re
line = "Cats are smarter than dogs";

matchObj = re.match( r'dogs', line, re.M|re.I)

if matchObj:
print "match --> matchObj.group() : ", matchObj.group()
else:
print "No match!!"

searchObj = re.search( r'dogs', line, re.M|re.I)

if searchObj:
print "search --> searchObj.group() : ", searchObj.group()
else:
print "Nothing found!!"

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

No match!!
search --> matchObj.group() : dogs

Search and Replace

One of the most important re methods that use regular expressions is sub.

Syntax
re.sub(pattern, repl, string, max=0)

This method replaces all occurrences of the RE pattern in string with repl,
substituting all occurrences unless max provided. This method returns
modified string.

Example
#!/usr/bin/python
import re

phone = "2004-959-559 # This is Phone Number"

# Delete Python-style comments

num = re.sub(r'#.*$', "", phone)
print "Phone Num : ", num

# Remove anything other than digits

num = re.sub(r'\D', "", phone)
print "Phone Num : ", num

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

Phone Num : 2004-959-559

Phone Num : 2004959559

Regular Expression Modifiers: Option Flags

Regular expression literals may include an optional modifier to control various
aspects of matching. The modifiers are specified as an optional flag. You can
provide multiple modifiers using exclusive OR (|), as shown previously and
may be represented by one of these −

Modifier Description

re.I Performs case-insensitive matching.

re.L Interprets words according to the current locale. This

interpretation affects the alphabetic group (\w and \W), as
well as word boundary behavior (\b and \B).

re.M Makes $ match the end of a line (not just the end of the
string) and makes ^ match the start of any line (not just the
start of the string).

re.S Makes a period (dot) match any character, including a

newline.

re.U Interprets letters according to the Unicode character set. This

flag affects the behavior of \w, \W, \b, \B.
re.X Permits "cuter" regular expression syntax. It ignores
whitespace (except inside a set [] or when escaped by a
backslash) and treats unescaped # as a comment marker.

Regular Expression Patterns

Except for control characters, (+ ? . * ^ $ ( ) [ ] { } | \), all characters
match themselves. You can escape a control character by preceding it with a
backslash.

Following table lists the regular expression syntax that is available in Python
−

Pattern Description

^ Matches beginning of line.

$ Matches end of line.

. Matches any single character except newline. Using m option

allows it to match newline as well.

[...] Matches any single character in brackets.

[^...] Matches any single character not in brackets

re* Matches 0 or more occurrences of preceding expression.

re+ Matches 1 or more occurrence of preceding expression.

re? Matches 0 or 1 occurrence of preceding expression.

re{ n} Matches exactly n number of occurrences of preceding

expression.
re{ n,} Matches n or more occurrences of preceding expression.

re{ n, m} Matches at least n and at most m occurrences of preceding

expression.

a| b Matches either a or b.

(re) Groups regular expressions and remembers matched text.

(?imx) Temporarily toggles on i, m, or x options within a regular

expression. If in parentheses, only that area is affected.

(?-imx) Temporarily toggles off i, m, or x options within a regular

expression. If in parentheses, only that area is affected.

(?: re) Groups regular expressions without remembering matched

text.

(?imx: re) Temporarily toggles on i, m, or x options within parentheses.

(?-imx: re) Temporarily toggles off i, m, or x options within parentheses.

(?#...) Comment.

(?= re) Specifies position using a pattern. Doesn't have a range.

(?! re) Specifies position using pattern negation. Doesn't have a

range.

(?> re) Matches independent pattern without backtracking.

\w Matches word characters.

\W Matches nonword characters.

\s Matches whitespace. Equivalent to [\t\n\r\f].

\S Matches nonwhitespace.

\d Matches digits. Equivalent to [0-9].

\D Matches nondigits.

\A Matches beginning of string.

\Z Matches end of string. If a newline exists, it matches just

before newline.

\z Matches end of string.

\G Matches point where last match finished.

\b Matches word boundaries when outside brackets. Matches

backspace (0x08) when inside brackets.

\B Matches nonword boundaries.

\n, \t, etc. Matches newlines, carriage returns, tabs, etc.

\1...\9 Matches nth grouped subexpression.

\10 Matches nth grouped subexpression if it matched already.

Otherwise refers to the octal representation of a character
code.

Regular Expression Examples

Literal characters
Example Description

python Match "python".

Character classes
Example Description

[Pp]ython Match "Python" or "python"

rub[ye] Match "ruby" or "rube"

[aeiou] Match any one lowercase vowel

[0-9] Match any digit; same as [0123456789]

[a-z] Match any lowercase ASCII letter

[A-Z] Match any uppercase ASCII letter

[a-zA-Z0-9] Match any of the above

[^aeiou] Match anything other than a lowercase vowel

[^0-9] Match anything other than a digit

Special Character Classes

Example Description
. Match any character except newline

\d Match a digit: [0-9]

\D Match a nondigit: [^0-9]

\s Match a whitespace character: [ \t\r\n\f]

\S Match nonwhitespace: [^ \t\r\n\f]

\w Match a single word character: [A-Za-z0-9_]

\W Match a nonword character: [^A-Za-z0-9_]

Repetition Cases
Example Description

ruby? Match "rub" or "ruby": the y is optional

ruby* Match "rub" plus 0 or more ys

ruby+ Match "rub" plus 1 or more ys

\d{3} Match exactly 3 digits

\d{3,} Match 3 or more digits

\d{3,5} Match 3, 4, or 5 digits

Nongreedy repetition
This matches the smallest number of repetitions −
Example Description

<.*> Greedy repetition: matches "<python>perl>"

<.*?> Nongreedy: matches "<python>" in "<python>perl>"

Grouping with Parentheses

Example Description

\D\d+ No group: + repeats \d

(\D\d)+ Grouped: + repeats \D\d pair

([Pp]ython(, )?)+ Match "Python", "Python, python, python", etc.

Backreferences
This matches a previously matched group again −

Example Description

([Pp])ython&\1ails Match python&pails or Python&Pails

(['"])[^\1]*\1 Single or double-quoted string. \1 matches whatever the 1st

group matched. \2 matches whatever the 2nd group
matched, etc.

Alternatives
Example Description

python|perl Match "python" or "perl"

rub(y|le)) Match "ruby" or "ruble"

Python(!+|\?) "Python" followed by one or more ! or one ?

Anchors
This needs to specify match position.

Example Description

^Python Match "Python" at the start of a string or internal line

Python$ Match "Python" at the end of a string or line

\APython Match "Python" at the start of a string

Python\Z Match "Python" at the end of a string

\bPython\b Match "Python" at a word boundary

\brub\B \B is nonword boundary: match "rub" in "rube" and "ruby"

but not alone

Python(?=!) Match "Python", if followed by an exclamation point.

Python(?!!) Match "Python", if not followed by an exclamation point.

Special Syntax with Parentheses

Example Description

R(?#comment) Matches "R". All the rest is a comment

R(?i)uby Case-insensitive while matching "uby"

R(?i:uby) Same as above

rub(?:y|le)) Group only without creating \1 backreference