Regular Expressions...

[Cameron Simpson]

On 07Jan2009 19:51, Ken D'Ambrosio <ken at jots.org> wrote:
| Hi, all.  As a recovering Perl guy, I have to admit I don't quite "get"
| the re module.  For example, I'd like to do a few things (I'm going to use
| phone numbers, 'cause that's what I'm currently dealing with):
| 12345678900 -- How would I:
| - Get just the area code?
| - Get just the seven-digit number?
| 
| In Perl, I'd so something like
| m/^1(...)(.......)/;
| and then I'd have the numbers in $1 and $2, respectively.  But the Python
| stuff simply isn't clicking for me.  If anyone could supply concrete
| examples of how to do the problem, above, that would be terrific.

I presume you're consulting this:
  http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#module-re

Something like this (untested):

  import re
  phone = '12345678900'
  num_re = re.compile('^1(...)(.......)')

num_re is now a regular expression object:
  http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#regular-expression-objects
much as you get from a "precompiled" perl regular expression.

  m = num_re.match(phone)

m is now the result of a match against the phone number:
  http://docs.python.org/library/re.html#id1

m.group(0) is what was matched by the whole expression. m.group(1) is perl's
$1, m.group(2) is $2 etc.
For example:

  area_code = m.group(1)

There is also an expand() method that accepts \1, \2 etc in its
template. For direct substitutions (as in perl's s/this/that/) there is
the regular expression object sub() method.

It's a bit more broken out than you normally get in perl, but the pieces
are all there.

Cheers,
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au> DoD#743
http://www.cskk.ezoshosting.com/cs/

Teamwork is essential. It lets you blame someone else.