CODEWITHSUNDEEP
regex
mk2080
mk2080

Reputation: 922

RegEX: Finding any two words on their own line ending in :

Given this body of text:

First Citizen:
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us:
Speak, speak.
ALL:
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?

I would like to match:

['First Citizen', 'ALL']

I originally tried something like this r'([\w -:]*:)' but want to limit it to lines with only 2 words.

Specifications:

Upvotes: 0

Views: 35

Answers (1)

Grismar
Grismar

Reputation: 31354

Any word: \w+

Any two words (with whitespace): \w+\s\w+

Any two words or less (assuming one, not zero): \w+(?:\s\w+)?

Any two words or less on their own line: ^\w+(?:\s\w+)?$

Any two words or less on their own line ending in ":": ^\w+(?:\s\w+)?:$

The result in (Python) code:

import re

text = """
First Citizen:
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us:
Speak, speak.
ALL:
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
"""

for match in re.findall(r"^\w+(?:\s\w+)?:$", text, re.MULTILINE):
    print(match)

The output:

First Citizen:
ALL:

You didn't specify a language, so your language may need one or two parameters to deal with the regex in the right way.

Upvotes: 1

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