Python RegEx / Regular Expression
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:
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)
Output:
YES! We have a match!
RegEx Functions
The re module offers a set of functions that allows us to search a string for a match:
Functio Description
n
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 are characters with a special meaning:
Characte Description Example
r
[] A set of characters "[a-m]"
\ Signals a special sequence (can also be used to escape "\d"
special characters)
. 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
A special sequence is a \ followed by one of the characters in the list below, and has a special
meaning:
Characte Description Example
r
\A Returns a match if the specified characters are at the "\AThe"
beginning of the string
\b Returns a match where the specified characters are at the r"\bain"
beginning or at the end of a word
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is r"ain\b"
being treated as a "raw string")
\B Returns a match where the specified characters are present, r"\Bain"
but NOT at the beginning (or at the end) of a word
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is r"ain\B"
being treated as a "raw string")
\d Returns a match where the string contains digits (numbers "\d"
from 0-9)
\D Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain digits "\D"
\s Returns a match where the string contains a white space "\s"
character
\S Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain a "\S"
white space character
\w Returns a match where the string contains any word "\w"
characters (characters from a to Z, digits from 0-9, and the
underscore _ character)
\W Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain any "\W"
word characters
\Z Returns a match if the specified characters are at the end of "Spain\Z"
the string
Sets
A set is a set of characters inside a pair of square brackets [] with a special meaning:
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- Returns a match for any two-digit numbers from 00 and 59
9]
[a-zA- Returns a match for any character alphabetically between a and z, lower case
Z] OR upper case
[+] In sets, +, *, ., |, (), $,{} has no special meaning, so [+] 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)
Output:
['ai', 'ai']
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)
Output:
[]
No match
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())
Output:
The first white-space character is located in position: 3
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)
Output:
None
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)
Output:
['The', 'rain', 'in', 'Spain']
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)
Output:
['The', 'rain in Spain']
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)
Output:
The9rain9in9Spain
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)
Output:
The9rain9in Spain
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
Output:
<_sre.SRE_Match object; span=(5, 7), match='ai'>
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())
Output:
(12, 17)
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)
Output:
The rain in Spain
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())
Output:
Spain
Metacharacters
Metacharacters are characters with a special meaning:
[] A set of characters "[a-m]"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Find all lower case characters alphabetically between "a" and "m":
x = re.findall("[a-m]", txt)
print(x)
Output:
['h', 'e', 'a', 'i', 'i', 'a', 'i']
\ Signals a special sequence (can also be used to escape special characters) "\d"
import re
txt = "That will be 59 dollars"
#Find all digit characters:
x = re.findall("\d", txt)
print(x)
Output:
['5', '9']
. Any character (except newline character) "he..o"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Search for a sequence that starts with "he", followed by two (any) characters, and an "o":
x = re.findall("he..o", txt)
print(x)
Output:
['hello']
^ Starts with "^hello"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Check if the string starts with 'hello':
x = re.findall("^hello", txt)
if x:
print("Yes, the string starts with 'hello'")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
Yes, the string starts with 'hello'
$ Ends with "planet$"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Check if the string ends with 'planet':
x = re.findall("planet$", txt)
if x:
print("Yes, the string ends with 'planet'")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
Yes, the string ends with 'planet'
* Zero or more occurrences "he.*o"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Search for a sequence that starts with "he", followed by 0 or more (any) characters, and an
"o":
x = re.findall("he.*o", txt)
print(x)
Output
['hello']
+ One or more occurrences "he.+o"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Search for a sequence that starts with "he", followed by 1 or more (any) characters,
and an "o":
x = re.findall("he.+o", txt)
print(x)
output:
['hello']
? Zero or one occurrences "he.?o"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Search for a sequence that starts with "he", followed by 0 or 1 (any) character, and an "o":
x = re.findall("he.?o", txt)
print(x)
#This time we got no match, because there were not zero, not one, but two characters
between "he" and the "o"
Output:
[]
{} Exactly the specified number of occurrences "he.{2}o"
import re
txt = "hello planet"
#Search for a sequence that starts with "he", followed excactly 2 (any) characters, and an "o":
x = re.findall("he.{2}o", txt)
print(x)
Output:
['hello']
| Either or "falls|stays"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain!"
#Check if the string contains either "falls" or "stays":
x = re.findall("falls|stays", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['falls']
Yes, there is at least one match!
Special Sequences
A special sequence is a \ followed by one of the characters in the list below, and has a special
meaning:
Characte Description Example
r
\A Returns a match if the specified characters are at the beginning "\AThe"
of the string
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string starts with "The":
x = re.findall("\AThe", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is a match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['The']
Yes, there is a match!
\ Returns a match where the specified characters are at the beginning or at r"\bain"
b the end of a word
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is being treated as a r"ain\b"
"raw string")
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if "ain" is present at the beginning of a WORD:
x = re.findall(r"\bain", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[]
No match
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if "ain" is present at the end of a WORD:
x = re.findall(r"ain\b", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['ain', 'ain']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\ Returns a match where the specified characters are present, but NOT at the r"\
B beginning (or at the end) of a word Bain"
(the "r" in the beginning is making sure that the string is being treated as a
"raw string") r"ain\
B"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if "ain" is present, but NOT at the beginning of a word:
x = re.findall(r"\Bain", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['ain', 'ain']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\d Returns a match where the string contains digits (numbers from 0-9) "\d"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string contains any digits (numbers from 0-9):
x = re.findall("\d", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[]
No match
\D Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain digits "\D"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Return a match at every no-digit character:
x = re.findall("\D", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['T', 'h', 'e', ' ', 'r', 'a', 'i', 'n', ' ', 'i', 'n', ' ', 'S', 'p', 'a', 'i', 'n']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\s Returns a match where the string contains a white space character "\s"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Return a match at every white-space character:
x = re.findall("\s", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[' ', ' ', ' ']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\S Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain a white space character "\S"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Return a match at every NON white-space character:
x = re.findall("\S", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['T', 'h', 'e', 'r', 'a', 'i', 'n', 'i', 'n', 'S', 'p', 'a', 'i', 'n']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\ Returns a match where the string contains any word characters (characters from "\
w a to Z, digits from 0-9, and the underscore _ character) w"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Return a match at every word character (characters from a to Z, digits from 0-9, and the
underscore _ character):
x = re.findall("\w", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['T', 'h', 'e', 'r', 'a', 'i', 'n', 'i', 'n', 'S', 'p', 'a', 'i', 'n']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\W Returns a match where the string DOES NOT contain any word characters "\W"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Return a match at every NON word character (characters NOT between a and Z. Like "!",
"?" white-space etc.):
x = re.findall("\W", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[' ', ' ', ' ']
Yes, there is at least one match!
\Z Returns a match if the specified characters are at the end of the string "Spain\Z"
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string ends with "Spain":
x = re.findall("Spain\Z", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is a match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['Spain']
Yes, there is a match!
Sets
A set is a set of characters inside a pair of square brackets [] with a special meaning:
[arn] Returns a match where one of the specified characters (a, r, or n) is present
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string has any a, r, or n characters:
x = re.findall("[arn]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['r', 'a', 'n', 'n', 'a', 'n']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[a-n] Returns a match for any lower case character, alphabetically between a and n
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string has any characters between a and n:
x = re.findall("[a-n]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['h', 'e', 'a', 'i', 'n', 'i', 'n', 'a', 'i', 'n']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[^arn] Returns a match for any character EXCEPT a, r, and n
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string has other characters than a, r, or n:
x = re.findall("[^arn]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['T', 'h', 'e', ' ', 'i', ' ', 'i', ' ', 'S', 'p', 'i']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[0123] Returns a match where any of the specified digits (0, 1, 2, or 3) are present
import re
txt = "The rain in Spain"
#Check if the string has any 0, 1, 2, or 3 digits:
x = re.findall("[0123]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[]
No match
[0-9] Returns a match for any digit between 0 and 9
import re
txt = "8 times before 11:45 AM"
#Check if the string has any digits:
x = re.findall("[0-9]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['8', '1', '1', '4', '5']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[0-5][0-9] Returns a match for any two-digit numbers from 00 and 59
import re
txt = "8 times before 11:45 AM"
#Check if the string has any two-digit numbers, from 00 to 59:
x = re.findall("[0-5][0-9]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['11', '45']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[a-zA-Z] Returns a match for any character alphabetically between a and z, lower case
OR upper case
import re
txt = "8 times before 11:45 AM"
#Check if the string has any characters from a to z lower case, and A to Z upper case:
x = re.findall("[a-zA-Z]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
['t', 'i', 'm', 'e', 's', 'b', 'e', 'f', 'o', 'r', 'e', 'A', 'M']
Yes, there is at least one match!
[+ In sets, +, *, ., |, (), $,{} has no special meaning, so [+] means: return a match for
] any + character in the string
import re
txt = "8 times before 11:45 AM"
#Check if the string has any + characters:
x = re.findall("[+]", txt)
print(x)
if x:
print("Yes, there is at least one match!")
else:
print("No match")
Output:
[]
No match
Pattern matching in Python with Regex
What is Regular Expression?
In the real world, string parsing in most programming languages is handled by regular
expression. Regular expression in a python programming language is a method used for
matching text pattern.
The “re” module which comes with every python installation provides regular expression
support.
In python, a regular expression search is typically written as:
match = re.search(pattern, string)
The re.search() method takes two arguments, a regular expression pattern and a string and
searches for that pattern within the string. If the pattern is found within the string, search()
returns a match object or None otherwise. So in a regular expression, given a string,
determine whether that string matches a given pattern, and, optionally, collect substrings that
contain relevant information. A regular expression can be used to answer questions like −
Is this string a valid URL?
Which users in /etc/passwd are in a given group?
What is the date and time of all warning messages in a log file?
What username and document were requested by the URL a visitor typed?
Matching patterns
Regular expressions are complicated mini-language. They rely on special characters to match
unknown strings, but let's start with literal characters, such as letters, numbers, and the space
character, which always match them. Let's see a basic example:
#Need module 're' for regular expression
import re
#
search_string ="King of Kings"
pattern = "King"
match = re.match(pattern, search_string)
#If-statement after search() tests if it succeeded
if match:
print("regex matches: ", match.group())
else:
print('pattern not found')
Output:
regex matches: King
