[Python/Module] RegEx

RegEx

• Regular Expression
• search pattern

import re

txt = "The rain in Spain"
a = re.search("^The.*Spain$", txt)
b = re.findall("ai", txt)

RegEx Functions

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
[]	A set of characters	"[a-m]"
\	Signals a special sequence (can also be used to escape special characters)	"\d"
.	Any character (except newline character)	"he..o"
^	Starts with	"^hello"
$	Ends with	"planet$"
*	Zero or more occurrences	"he.*o"
+	One or more occurrences	"he.+o"
?	Zero or one occurrences	"he.?o"
{}	Exactly the specified number of occurrences	"he.{2}o"
|	Either or	"falls|stays"
()	Capture and group

Special Sequences

Character	Description	Example
\A	Returns a match if the specified characters are at the beginning of the string	"\AThe"
\b	Returns a match where the specified characters are at the beginning or at the end of a word (the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is being treated as a "raw string")	r"\bain" r"ain\b"
\B	Returns a match where the specified characters are present, but NOT at the beginning (or at the end) of a word (the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is being treated as a "raw string")	r"\Bain" r"ain\B"
\d	Returns a match where the string contains digits (numbers from 0-9)	"\d"
\D	Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain digits	"\D"
\s	Returns a match where the string contains a white space character	"\s"
\S	Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain a white space character	"\S"
\w	Returns a match where the string contains any word characters (characters from a to Z, digits from 0-9, and the underscore _ character)	"\w"
\W	Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain any word characters	"\W"
\Z	Returns a match if the specified characters are at the end of the string	"Spain\Z"

Sets

Set	Description
[arn]	Returns a match where one of the specified characters (a, r, or n) is present
[a-n]	Returns a match for any lower case character, alphabetically between a and n
[^arn]	Returns a match for any character EXCEPT a, r, and n
[0123]	Returns a match where any of the specified digits (0, 1, 2, or 3) are present
[0-9]	Returns a match for any digit between 0 and 9
[0-5][0-9]	Returns a match for any two-digit numbers from 00 and 59
[a-zA-Z]	Returns a match for any character alphabetically between a and z, lower case OR upper case
[+]	In sets, +, *, ., |, (), $,{} has no special meaning, so [+] means: return a match for any + character in the string