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!
