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6 Python Regex Search Function

The Python regex search() function searches for the first occurrence of a pattern within a string. It returns a match object if found, or None if not found. The match object has methods like group() to retrieve matched text. search() is more flexible than match() as it will find matches anywhere in the string, not just at the beginning.

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60 views

6 Python Regex Search Function

The Python regex search() function searches for the first occurrence of a pattern within a string. It returns a match object if found, or None if not found. The match object has methods like group() to retrieve matched text. search() is more flexible than match() as it will find matches anywhere in the string, not just at the beginning.

Uploaded by

ArvindSharma
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Python regex `search` function

Python Regex search() function explained with examples.

WE'LL COVER THE FOLLOWING

• The Search Function


• Match Flags
• Return values
• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3
• Example 4
• Why we need to use search instead of the match ?

The Search Function #


The search function searches for first occurance of a re pattern to string with
optional flags.

Here is the syntax for this function −

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

Where, pattern is the regular expression to be matched, string is the string


to be searched to match the pattern at the beginning of string and flags ,
which you can specify different flags using bitwise OR ( | ).

Match Flags #

Modifier Description
Performs case-insensitive
re.I
matching.

Interprets words according to the


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

Makes $ match the end of a line


re.M and makes ^ match the start of any
line.

Makes a period (dot) match any


re.S
character, including a newline.

Interprets letters according to the


Unicode character set. This flag
re.U
affects the behavior of \w , \W , \b ,
\B .

It ignores whitespace (except


inside a set [] or when escaped by
re.X
a backslash and treats unescaped
# as a comment marker.

Return values #
The re.search function returns a match object on success and None
upon failure. -
Use group(n) or groups() function of match object to get matched
expression, e.g., group(n=0) returns entire match (or specific subgroup
n)

The function groups() returns all matching subgroups in a tuple (empty


if there weren’t any).

Example 1 #
Let’s find the words before and after the word to :

#!/usr/bin/python
import re

line = "Learn to Analyze Data with Scientific Python";

m = re.search( r'(.*) to (.*?) .*', line, re.M|re.I)

if m:
print "m.group() : ", m.group()
print "m.group(1) : ", m.group(1)
print "m.group(2) : ", m.group(2)
else:
print "No match!!"

The first group (.*) identified the string: Learn and the next group (*.?)
identified the string: Analyze.

Example 2 #
groups([default]) returns a tuple containing all the subgroups of the match,
from 1 up to however many groups are in the pattern.

#!/usr/bin/python
import re

line = "Learn Data, Python";

m = re.search( r'(\w+) (\w+)', line, re.M|re.I)

if m:
print "m.group() : ", m.groups()
print "m.group (1,2)", m.group(1, 2)
else:
print "No match!!"

Example 3 #
groupdict([default]) returns a dictionary containing all the named
subgroups of the match, keyed by the subgroup name.

#!/usr/bin/python
!/us /b /pyt o
import re

number = "124.13";

m = re.search( r'(?P<Expotent>\d+)\.(?P<Fraction>\d+)', number)

if m:
print "m.groupdict() : ", m.groupdict()
else:
print "No match!!"

Example 4 #

start([group]) and end([group]) return the indices of the start and end of
the substring matched by group . We need to use search instead of match for
this example:

#!/usr/bin/python
import re

email = "hello@leremove_thisarntoanalayzedata.com ";

# m = re.match ("remove_this", email) // This will not work!


m = re.search("remove_this", email)

if m:
print "email address : ", email[:m.start()] + email[m.end():]
else:
print "No match!!"

Why we need to use search instead of the match ? #


Can you guess from the example above?

Show Hint

See in the next lesson!

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