<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="lib.css" type='text/css' /> <link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="../icons/pyfav.gif" /> <link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python Documentation Index' /> <link rel="first" href="lib.html" title='Python Library Reference' /> <link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" /> <link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' /> <link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' /> <LINK rel="next" href="match-objects.html"> <LINK rel="prev" href="node106.html"> <LINK rel="parent" href="module-re.html"> <LINK rel="next" href="match-objects.html"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <meta name='aesop' content='information' /> <META name="description" content="Regular Expression Objects "> <META name="keywords" content="lib"> <META name="resource-type" content="document"> <META name="distribution" content="global"> <title>4.2.4 Regular Expression Objects </title> </head> <body> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div id='top-navigation-panel'> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="4.2.3 Module Contents" href="node106.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="4.2 re " href="module-re.html"><img src='../icons/up.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="4.2.5 Match Objects" href="match-objects.html"><img src='../icons/next.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index" href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td> </tr></table> <div class='online-navigation'> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node106.html">4.2.3 Module Contents</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="module-re.html">4.2 re </A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="match-objects.html">4.2.5 Match Objects</A> </div> <hr /></div> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <H2><A NAME="SECTION006240000000000000000"><!--x--></A><A NAME="re-objects"><!--z--></A> <BR> 4.2.4 Regular Expression Objects </H2> <P> Compiled regular expression objects support the following methods and attributes: <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-854' class="method">match</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>string</var><big>[</big><var>, pos</var><big>[</big><var>, endpos</var><big>]</big><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> If zero or more characters at the beginning of <var>string</var> match this regular expression, return a corresponding <tt class="class">MatchObject</tt> instance. Return <code>None</code> if the string does not match the pattern; note that this is different from a zero-length match. <P> <span class="note"><b class="label">Note:</b> If you want to locate a match anywhere in <var>string</var>, use <tt class="method">search()</tt> instead.</span> <P> The optional second parameter <var>pos</var> gives an index in the string where the search is to start; it defaults to <code>0</code>. This is not completely equivalent to slicing the string; the <code>'^'</code> pattern character matches at the real beginning of the string and at positions just after a newline, but not necessarily at the index where the search is to start. <P> The optional parameter <var>endpos</var> limits how far the string will be searched; it will be as if the string is <var>endpos</var> characters long, so only the characters from <var>pos</var> to <code><var>endpos</var> - 1</code> will be searched for a match. If <var>endpos</var> is less than <var>pos</var>, no match will be found, otherwise, if <var>rx</var> is a compiled regular expression object, <code><var>rx</var>.match(<var>string</var>, 0, 50)</code> is equivalent to <code><var>rx</var>.match(<var>string</var>[:50], 0)</code>. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-855' class="method">search</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>string</var><big>[</big><var>, pos</var><big>[</big><var>, endpos</var><big>]</big><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Scan through <var>string</var> looking for a location where this regular expression produces a match, and return a corresponding <tt class="class">MatchObject</tt> instance. Return <code>None</code> if no position in the string matches the pattern; note that this is different from finding a zero-length match at some point in the string. <P> The optional <var>pos</var> and <var>endpos</var> parameters have the same meaning as for the <tt class="method">match()</tt> method. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-856' class="method">split</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>string</var><big>[</big><var>, maxsplit<code> = 0</code></var><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Identical to the <tt class="function">split()</tt> function, using the compiled pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-857' class="method">findall</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>string</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Identical to the <tt class="function">findall()</tt> function, using the compiled pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-858' class="method">finditer</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>string</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Identical to the <tt class="function">finditer()</tt> function, using the compiled pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-859' class="method">sub</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>repl, string</var><big>[</big><var>, count<code> = 0</code></var><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Identical to the <tt class="function">sub()</tt> function, using the compiled pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-860' class="method">subn</tt></b>(</nobr></td> <td><var>repl, string</var><big>[</big><var>, count<code> = 0</code></var><big>]</big>)</td></tr></table></dt> <dd> Identical to the <tt class="function">subn()</tt> function, using the compiled pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-861' class="member">flags</tt></b></dt> <dd> The flags argument used when the RE object was compiled, or <code>0</code> if no flags were provided. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-862' class="member">groupindex</tt></b></dt> <dd> A dictionary mapping any symbolic group names defined by <tt class="regexp">(?P<<var>id</var>>)</tt> to group numbers. The dictionary is empty if no symbolic groups were used in the pattern. </dl> <P> <dl><dt><b><tt id='l2h-863' class="member">pattern</tt></b></dt> <dd> The pattern string from which the RE object was compiled. </dl> <P> <DIV CLASS="navigation"> <div class='online-navigation'><hr /> <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2"> <tr> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="4.2.3 Module Contents" rel="prev" title="4.2.3 Module Contents" href="node106.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="4.2 re " rel="parent" title="4.2 re " href="module-re.html"><img src='../icons/up.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="4.2.5 Match Objects" rel="next" title="4.2.5 Match Objects" href="match-objects.html"><img src='../icons/next.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td> <td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents" href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td> <td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index" rel="index" title="Index" href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png' border='0' height='32' alt='Index' width='32' /></A></td> </tr></table> <div class='online-navigation'> <b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node106.html">4.2.3 Module Contents</A> <b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="module-re.html">4.2 re </A> <b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" rel="next" href="match-objects.html">4.2.5 Match Objects</A> </div> </div> <hr /> <span class="release-info">Release 2.3.4, documentation updated on May 20, 2004.</span> </DIV> <!--End of Navigation Panel--> <ADDRESS> See <i><a href="about.html">About this document...</a></i> for information on suggesting changes. </ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>