 Tutorials  References  Exercises  Menu 

Website NEW Paid Courses

  HTML CSS JAVASCRIPT SQL PYTHON PHP   

Python RegEx
❮ Previous Next ❯

A RegEx, or Regular Expression, is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern.

RegEx can be used to check if a string contains the specified search pattern.

RegEx Module
Python has a built-in package called re , which can be used to work with Regular Expressions.

Import the re module:

import re

RegEx in Python
When you have imported the re module, you can start using regular expressions:

Example
Search the string to see if it starts with "The" and ends with "Spain":

import re
 txt = "The rain in Spain"
x = re.search("^The.*Spain$", txt)

Try it Yourself »

RegEx Functions
The re module offers a set of functions that allows us to search a string for a match:

Function Description

findall Returns a list containing all matches

search Returns a Match object if there is a match anywhere in the string

split Returns a list where the string has been split at each match

sub Replaces one or many matches with a string

Metacharacters
Metacharacters are characters with a special meaning:

Character Description Example Try it

[] A set of characters "[a-m]" Try it »

\ Signals a special sequence (can also be used to "\d" Try it »

escape special characters)

. Any character (except newline character) "he..o" Try it »

^ Starts with "^hello" Try it »

$ Ends with "planet$" Try it »

* Zero or more occurrences "he.*o" Try it »

+ One or more occurrences "he.+o" Try it »

 ? Zero or one occurrences "he.?o" Try it »

{} Exactly the specified number of occurrences "he{2}o" Try it »

| Either or "falls|stays" Try it »

() Capture and group

Special Sequences
A special sequence is a \ followed by one of the characters in the list below, and has a special
meaning:

Character Description Example Try it

\A Returns a match if the specified characters are at the "\AThe" Try it »

beginning of the string

\b Returns a match where the specified characters are at r"\bain" Try it »

the beginning or at the end of a word r"ain\b" Try it »
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the
string is being treated as a "raw string")

\B Returns a match where the specified characters are r"\Bain" Try it »

present, but NOT at the beginning (or at the end) of a r"ain\B" Try it »
word
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the
string is being treated as a "raw string")

\d Returns a match where the string contains digits "\d" Try it »

(numbers from 0-9)

\D Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain "\D" Try it »
digits

\s Returns a match where the string contains a white "\s" Try it »

space character

\S Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain "\S" Try it »
a white space character

\w Returns a match where the string contains any word "\w" Try it »
characters (characters from a to Z, digits from 0-9,
and the underscore _ character)
 \W Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain "\W" Try it »
any word characters

\Z Returns a match if the specified characters are at the "Spain\Z" Try it »

end of the string

Sets
A set is a set of characters inside a pair of square brackets [] with a special meaning:

Set Description Try it

[arn] Returns a match where one of the specified characters ( a , r , or n ) Try it »

are present

[a-n] Returns a match for any lower case character, alphabetically between Try it »
a and n

[^arn] Returns a match for any character EXCEPT a , r , and n Try it »

[0123] Returns a match where any of the specified digits ( 0 , 1 , 2 , or 3 ) Try it »

are present

[0-9] Returns a match for any digit between 0 and 9 Try it »

[0-5][0-9] Returns a match for any two-digit numbers from 00 and 59 Try it »

[a-zA-Z] Returns a match for any character alphabetically between a and z , Try it »
lower case OR upper case

[+] In sets, + , * , . , | , () , $ , {} has no special meaning, so [+] Try it »

means: return a match for any + character in the string

The findall() Function

The findall() function returns a list containing all matches.

Example
Print a list of all matches:

import re
 txt = "The rain in Spain"
x = re.findall("ai", txt)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

The list contains the matches in the order they are found.

If no matches are found, an empty list is returned:

Example
Return an empty list if no match was found:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.findall("Portugal", txt)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

The search() Function

The search() function searches the string for a match, and returns a Match object if there is a
match.

If there is more than one match, only the first occurrence of the match will be returned:

Example
Search for the first white-space character in the string:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search("\s", txt)
 print("The first white-space character is located in position:", x.start())

Try it Yourself »

If no matches are found, the value None is returned:

Example
Make a search that returns no match:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search("Portugal", txt)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

The split() Function

The split() function returns a list where the string has been split at each match:

Example
Split at each white-space character:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.split("\s", txt)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

You can control the number of occurrences by specifying the maxsplit parameter:
Example
Split the string only at the first occurrence:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.split("\s", txt, 1)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

The sub() Function

The sub() function replaces the matches with the text of your choice:

Example
Replace every white-space character with the number 9:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.sub("\s", "9", txt)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

You can control the number of replacements by specifying the count parameter:

Example
Replace the first 2 occurrences:

import re
 txt = "The rain in Spain"
x = re.sub("\s", "9", txt, 2)
print(x)

Try it Yourself »

Match Object
A Match Object is an object containing information about the search and the result.

Note: If there is no match, the value None will be returned, instead of the Match Object.

Example
Do a search that will return a Match Object:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search("ai", txt)
print(x) #this will print an object

Try it Yourself »

The Match object has properties and methods used to retrieve information about the search, and
the result:

.span() returns a tuple containing the start-, and end positions of the match.
.string returns the string passed into the function
.group() returns the part of the string where there was a match

Example
Print the position (start- and end-position) of the first match occurrence.

The regular expression looks for any words that starts with an upper case "S":
 import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search(r"\bS\w+", txt)
print(x.span())

Try it Yourself »

Example
Print the string passed into the function:

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search(r"\bS\w+", txt)
print(x.string)

Try it Yourself »

Example
Print the part of the string where there was a match.

The regular expression looks for any words that starts with an upper case "S":

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"

x = re.search(r"\bS\w+", txt)
print(x.group())

Try it Yourself »

Note: If there is no match, the value None will be returned, instead of the Match Object.
❮ Previous Next ❯

COLOR PICKER

CODE GAME

Play Game

Report Error Forum About Shop

Top Tutorials Top References

HTML Tutorial HTML Reference
CSS Tutorial CSS Reference
JavaScript Tutorial JavaScript Reference
How To Tutorial SQL Reference
SQL Tutorial Python Reference
Python Tutorial W3.CSS Reference
W3.CSS Tutorial Bootstrap Reference
Bootstrap Tutorial PHP Reference
 PHP Tutorial HTML Colors
Java Tutorial Java Reference
C++ Tutorial Angular Reference
jQuery Tutorial jQuery Reference

Top Examples Web Courses

HTML Examples HTML Course
CSS Examples CSS Course
JavaScript Examples JavaScript Course
How To Examples Front End Course
SQL Examples SQL Course
Python Examples Python Course
W3.CSS Examples PHP Course
Bootstrap Examples jQuery Course
PHP Examples Java Course
Java Examples C++ Course
XML Examples C# Course
jQuery Examples XML Course

Get Certified »

W3Schools is optimized for learning and training. Examples might be simplified to improve reading and learning. Tutorials,
references, and examples are constantly reviewed to avoid errors, but we cannot warrant full correctness of all content.
While using W3Schools, you agree to have read and accepted our terms of use, cookie and privacy policy.

Copyright 1999-2022 by Refsnes Data. All Rights Reserved.

W3Schools is Powered by W3.CSS.