CODEWITHSUNDEEP
pythonregex
myjunk
myjunk

Reputation: 13

How can I get the position of the captured groups?

The example:

r = re.search("a(..)d(.)f", "xxabcdefg")

r.span() returns (2, 8) the entire string

but I would like to get the start and end positions of the two captured groups, so (2, 4) and (6, 7).

Upvotes: 0

Views: 59

Answers (1)

Martijn Pieters
Martijn Pieters

Reputation: 1121962

The r.span() method takes a group parameter; each group is numbered, so use 1 and 2 to get the spans of the two groups, 0 for the whole text (where 0 is the default):

>>> import re
>>> r = re.search("a(..)d(.)f", "xxabcdefg")
>>> r.span()
(2, 8)
>>> r.span(1)
(3, 5)
>>> r.span(2)
(6, 7)

From the MatchObject.span() method documentation:

span([group])
For MatchObject m, return the 2-tuple (m.start(group), m.end(group)). Note that if group did not contribute to the match, this is (-1, -1). group defaults to zero, the entire match.

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions