 Tutorials  Exercises  Get Certified  Services  Bootcamps Spaces Sign Up Log in

Dark mode
Dark code
HTML CSS JAVASCRIPT SQL PYTHON JAVA PHP BOOTSTRAP HOW TO W3.CSS C C++ C# REACT R JQUERY DJANGO   
Python Booleans
Python Operators ADVERTISEMENT

Python Lists
Python Tuples
Python Sets
Python Dictionaries
Python If...Else
Python While Loops
Python RegEx
Python For Loops
❮ Previous Next ❯
Python Functions
Python Lambda
Python Arrays A RegEx, or Regular Expression, is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern.
Python Classes/Objects
Python Inheritance RegEx can be used to check if a string contains the specified search pattern.
Python Iterators
Python Polymorphism
Python Scope RegEx Module
Python Modules
Python Dates Python has a built-in package called re , which can be used to work with Regular Expressions.
Python Math
Import the re module:
Python JSON
Python RegEx
Python PIP
Python Try...Except import re

Python User Input

Python String Formatting

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

Example Get your own Python Server

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)
COLOR PICKER

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

ADVERTISEMENT

Metacharacters ADVERTISEMENT

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 escape special characters) "\d" Try it »

. 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 beginning of the string "\AThe" Try it »

\b Returns a match where the specified characters are at the beginning or at the end of r"\bain" Try it »
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 present, but NOT at the r"\Bain" Try it »
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")

\d Returns a match where the string contains digits (numbers from 0-9) "\d" Try it »

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

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

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

\w Returns a match where the string contains any word characters (characters from a to "\w" Try it »
Z, digits from 0-9, and the underscore _ character)

\W Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain any word characters "\W" Try it »

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

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 ) is present Try it »

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

[^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 ) are present Try it »

[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 , lower case OR upper case Try it »

[+] In sets, + , * , . , | , () , $ , {} has no special meaning, so [+] means: return a match for any + Try it »
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 Log in to track progress Next ❯

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Spaces Upgrade Newsletter Get Certified Report Error

Top Tutorials Top References Top Examples Get Certified

HTML Tutorial HTML Reference HTML Examples HTML Certificate
CSS Tutorial CSS Reference CSS Examples CSS Certificate
JavaScript Tutorial JavaScript Reference JavaScript Examples JavaScript Certificate
How To Tutorial SQL Reference How To Examples Front End Certificate
SQL Tutorial Python Reference SQL Examples SQL Certificate
Python Tutorial W3.CSS Reference Python Examples Python Certificate
W3.CSS Tutorial Bootstrap Reference W3.CSS Examples PHP Certificate
Bootstrap Tutorial PHP Reference Bootstrap Examples jQuery Certificate
PHP Tutorial HTML Colors PHP Examples Java Certificate
Java Tutorial Java Reference Java Examples C++ Certificate
C++ Tutorial Angular Reference XML Examples C# Certificate
jQuery Tutorial jQuery Reference jQuery Examples XML Certificate

FORUM | ABOUT

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 1999-2023 by Refsnes Data. All Rights Reserved.

W3Schools is Powered by W3.CSS.