Possible regex match bug (re module)

[Randall Hopper]

Tim Peters:
 |Same as in Perl, you're going to have to write a hairier regexp with only
 |one interesting group, or give the interesting groups different names and
 |sort them out after the match (in an alternation involving named groups, at
 |most one will be non-None after a match).  Here's a discouraging <wink>
 |example of the former approach:
 |
 |>>> p = re.compile(r"([-=])\1\1(?P<id>((?!\1).)*)\1\1\1").match

I didn't parse your reply carefully enough.  The "interesting groups
different names" approach is the one I took, and you're not advocating the
"hairier" form.

I guess what threw me with named groups is that they are identified by
names (like variables) and not position numbers ($1,$2,...), so
context-sensitive assignment seemed to make sense.  E.g.:
"if a == b { id = b } else { id = c }"

I'll use different names in the future, and just be thinking numbers. ;-)

Thanks,

Randall