Wsrtjtyk

I have a list of variables as below

roll_off_m4**

ov_offer_desc_m4

curr_ov_tier_desc2_m4

income

age

vid_offer_up_flag_m3

vidpromo_rng_m4*

ovpromo_rng_m4*

ovpromo_rng_m3*

roll_off_m3

roll_off_m2

oolpromo_rng_m3*

ov_offer_group_v2_desc_m4

oolpromo_rng_m2*

rsdvr_orig_m2

vidpromo_rng_m2*

ovpromo_rng_m2*

Some, like the ones marked by a * are essentially the same variable but the month in which it's value is taken can be different.
Like roll_off in Feb is m2 , in Mar is m3 and Apr is m4.
I need to pick only the variable corresponding to m2 in case multiple month values are present.
In case only a single month value is present , I pick that only.

In case of variables like age and income, since there is no month info associated with them, I just pick them as is.

All these picked values are appended to a final list of variables.

Can someone please help me to do this in python?

EDIT:
I have updated the function to achieve the results you have specified in the comments.

I'm using a pretty long list comprehension, so I'll quickly outline what's being checked to add the item to the output:

1. The variable contains a number and ("_m" + month_number) is in the variable name


2. There is no number in the variable (e.g. 'age')


3. There is no other example of this variable with a different month

So running the code below will output the following for a month variable of '2':

['roll_off_m4**', 'ov_offer_desc_m4', 'curr_ov_tier_desc2_m4', 'income', 'age', 'vid_offer_up_flag_m3', 'roll_off_m2', 'ov_offer_group_v2_desc_m4', 'oolpromo_rng_m2*', 'rsdvr_orig_m2', 'vidpromo_rng_m2*', 'ovpromo_rng_m2*']

Full code:

# 're' is imported for determining if the month number is in the variable

import re



# Your initial list of variables

my_list =   ['roll_off_m4**',

             'ov_offer_desc_m4',

             'curr_ov_tier_desc2_m4',

             'income',

             'age',

             'vid_offer_up_flag_m3',

             'vidpromo_rng_m4*',

             'ovpromo_rng_m4*',

             'ovpromo_rng_m3*',

             'roll_off_m3',

             'roll_off_m2',

             'oolpromo_rng_m3*',

             'ov_offer_group_v2_desc_m4',

             'oolpromo_rng_m2*',

             'rsdvr_orig_m2',

             'vidpromo_rng_m2*',

             'ovpromo_rng_m2*']



# This function will return the list for the month specified

def get_data_for_month(month_number, variable_list):

    return [variable for variable in variable_list if (bool(re.search(r'd', variable)) == True and ("_m" + str(month_number)) in variable) or (bool(re.search(r'd', variable)) == False) or (variable.replace(variable[variable.find("_m"):variable.find("_m")+3], "_m2")) not in variable_list]





#function call

output = get_data_for_month(2, my_list)



#output is printed

print(output)