Author: georg.brandl Date: Thu Sep 27 08:26:58 2007 New Revision: 58270 Modified: python/trunk/Doc/library/re.rst Log: #1208: document match object's boolean value. Modified: python/trunk/Doc/library/re.rst ============================================================================== --- python/trunk/Doc/library/re.rst (original) +++ python/trunk/Doc/library/re.rst Thu Sep 27 08:26:58 2007 @@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ patterns; backslashes are not handled in any special way in a string literal prefixed with ``'r'``. So ``r"\n"`` is a two-character string containing ``'\'`` and ``'n'``, while ``"\n"`` is a one-character string containing a -newline. Usually patterns will be expressed in Python code using this raw string -notation. +newline. Usually patterns will be expressed in Python code using this raw +string notation. .. seealso:: Mastering Regular Expressions Book on regular expressions by Jeffrey Friedl, published by O'Reilly. The - second edition of the book no longer covers Python at all, but the first + second edition of the book no longer covers Python at all, but the first edition covered writing good regular expression patterns in great detail. @@ -428,8 +428,8 @@ .. function:: compile(pattern[, flags]) - Compile a regular expression pattern into a regular expression object, which can - be used for matching using its :func:`match` and :func:`search` methods, + Compile a regular expression pattern into a regular expression object, which + can be used for matching using its :func:`match` and :func:`search` methods, described below. The expression's behaviour can be modified by specifying a *flags* value. @@ -445,8 +445,8 @@ result = re.match(pat, str) - but the version using :func:`compile` is more efficient when the expression will - be used several times in a single program. + but the version using :func:`compile` is more efficient when the expression + will be used several times in a single program. .. % (The compiled version of the last pattern passed to .. % \function{re.match()} or \function{re.search()} is cached, so @@ -464,8 +464,8 @@ .. data:: L LOCALE - Make ``\w``, ``\W``, ``\b``, ``\B``, ``\s`` and ``\S`` dependent on the current - locale. + Make ``\w``, ``\W``, ``\b``, ``\B``, ``\s`` and ``\S`` dependent on the + current locale. .. data:: M @@ -554,10 +554,11 @@ .. function:: findall(pattern, string[, flags]) - Return a list of all non-overlapping matches of *pattern* in *string*. If one - or more groups are present in the pattern, return a list of groups; this will be - a list of tuples if the pattern has more than one group. Empty matches are - included in the result unless they touch the beginning of another match. + Return all non-overlapping matches of *pattern* in *string*, as a list of + strings. If one or more groups are present in the pattern, return a list of + groups; this will be a list of tuples if the pattern has more than one group. + Empty matches are included in the result unless they touch the beginning of + another match. .. versionadded:: 1.5.2 @@ -567,9 +568,9 @@ .. function:: finditer(pattern, string[, flags]) - Return an iterator over all non-overlapping matches for the RE *pattern* in - *string*. For each match, the iterator returns a match object. Empty matches - are included in the result unless they touch the beginning of another match. + Return an iterator yielding :class:`MatchObject` instances over all + non-overlapping matches for the RE *pattern* in *string*. Empty matches are + included in the result unless they touch the beginning of another match. .. versionadded:: 2.2 @@ -737,7 +738,9 @@ Match Objects ------------- -:class:`MatchObject` instances support the following methods and attributes: +Match objects always have a boolean value of :const:`True`, so that you can test +whether e.g. :func:`match` resulted in a match with a simple if statement. They +support the following methods and attributes: .. method:: MatchObject.expand(template)