[Python-Dev] what is happening with the regex module going into Python 3.3?

[Gregory P. Smith]

On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 5:37 PM, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:

> ipaddress really made it in because I personally ran into the limitations
> of not having IP address support in the stdlib. I ended up doing quite a
> bit of prompting to ensure the process of cleaning up the API to modern
> stdlib standards didn't stall (even now, generating a module reference from
> the docstrings is still a pending task)
>
> With regex, the pain isn't there, since re already covers such a large
> subset of what regex provides.
>
That last statement basically suggests that something like regex would
never be accepted until a CPython core developer was actually running into
pain with the many flaws in the re module (especially when it comes to
Unicode).  I disagree with that.

Per the language summit, I think we need to just do it.  Put it in as re
and rename the existing re module to sre.

We could pull the plug on it and leave it out if substantial as yet unknown
problems that can't be fixed in time for release crop up during the beta 1
or 2 (release manager's decision).

> My perspective is that it's now too late to make a change that big for
> 3.3, but the in principle approval holds for anyone that wants to work with
> MRAB and get the idea written up as a PEP for 3.4.
>
Nonsense, as long as its in before 3.3 Beta 1 (scheduled for June 23rd
according to PEP 398) it can go in.

I don't like to claim that a PEP for this one is *strictly* necessary but
Nick raises good questions to be answered and has good suggestions for what
to write up in the PEP in his earlier response that I certainly would
prefer to have gathered up and documented so that is the route I suggest.

The issue seems to be primarily one of "who is volunteering to do it?"

-gps
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