CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonregex
zalpha314
zalpha314

Reputation: 1495

Python - regex search for string which starts and ends with the given text

I have a list of files, and I want to keep only the ones which start with 'test_' and end with '.py'. I want the regex to only return the text inside the 'test_' and '.py'. I do not want .pyc files included.

I have tried:

>>>filename = 'test_foo.py'
>>>re.search(r'(?<=test_).+(?=\.py)', filename).group()
foo.py

but it still returns the extension, and will allow '.pyc' extensions (which I do not want). I'm pretty sure it's the '+' which is consuming the whole string.

This works as a fallback, but I would prefer a regex solution:

>>>filename = 'test_foo.py'
>>>result = filename.startswith('test_') and filename.endswith('.py')
>>>result = result.replace('test_', '').replace('.py', '')
>>>print result
foo

Upvotes: 8

Views: 27556

Answers (2)

user2555451
user2555451

Reputation:

Look at this:

import re

files = [
"test_1.py",
"Test.py",
"test.pyc",
"test.py",
"script.py"]

print [x for x in files if re.search("^test_.*py$", x)]

output:

['test_1.py']

Upvotes: 2

p.s.w.g
p.s.w.g

Reputation: 149000

The problem is that your pattern matches any string that comes after by test_ and before .py, but that doesn't restrict it from having other characters before the test_ or after the .py.

You need to use start (^) and end ($) anchors. Also, don't forget to escape the . character. Try this pattern:

(?<=^test_).+(?=\.py$)

Upvotes: 9

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