Python regex, matching pattern over multiple lines.. why isn't this working?

I know that for parsing I should ideally remove all spaces and linebreaks but I was just doing this as a quick fix for something I was trying and I can't figure out why its not working.. I have wrapped different areas of text in my document with the wrappers like "####1" and am trying to parse based on this but its just not working no matter what I try, I think I am using multiline correctly.. any advice is appreciated

This returns no results at all:

string='

####1

ttteest

####1

ttttteeeestt



####2   



ttest

####2'



import re

pattern = '.*?####(.*?)####'

returnmatch = re.compile(pattern, re.MULTILINE).findall(string)

return returnmatch

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

1

It won't run period because you're not using multi-line string symbols ''' or """

– Nick T
Aug 20 '10 at 20:13

ok, I missed this concept completely then, i will dig through the re documentation to find where it mentions this.. thanks

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

3

Your assignment to string is a syntax error. Did you mean to use '''?

– msw
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

no I'm new to python so I didn't know about the mutline string delimiter

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:20

add a comment |

This returns no results at all:

string='

####1

ttteest

####1

ttttteeeestt



####2   



ttest

####2'



import re

pattern = '.*?####(.*?)####'

returnmatch = re.compile(pattern, re.MULTILINE).findall(string)

return returnmatch

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

1

It won't run period because you're not using multi-line string symbols ''' or """

– Nick T
Aug 20 '10 at 20:13

ok, I missed this concept completely then, i will dig through the re documentation to find where it mentions this.. thanks

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

3

Your assignment to string is a syntax error. Did you mean to use '''?

– msw
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

no I'm new to python so I didn't know about the mutline string delimiter

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:20

add a comment |

This returns no results at all:

string='

####1

ttteest

####1

ttttteeeestt



####2   



ttest

####2'



import re

pattern = '.*?####(.*?)####'

returnmatch = re.compile(pattern, re.MULTILINE).findall(string)

return returnmatch

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

This returns no results at all:

string='

####1

ttteest

####1

ttttteeeestt



####2   



ttest

####2'



import re

pattern = '.*?####(.*?)####'

returnmatch = re.compile(pattern, re.MULTILINE).findall(string)

return returnmatch

python regex parsing

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

asked Aug 20 '10 at 20:09

Rick

7,1233298159

1

It won't run period because you're not using multi-line string symbols ''' or """

– Nick T
Aug 20 '10 at 20:13

ok, I missed this concept completely then, i will dig through the re documentation to find where it mentions this.. thanks

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

3

Your assignment to string is a syntax error. Did you mean to use '''?

– msw
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

no I'm new to python so I didn't know about the mutline string delimiter

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:20

add a comment |

1

It won't run period because you're not using multi-line string symbols ''' or """

– Nick T
Aug 20 '10 at 20:13

ok, I missed this concept completely then, i will dig through the re documentation to find where it mentions this.. thanks

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

3

Your assignment to string is a syntax error. Did you mean to use '''?

– msw
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

no I'm new to python so I didn't know about the mutline string delimiter

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:20

It won't run period because you're not using multi-line string symbols ''' or """

– Nick T
Aug 20 '10 at 20:13

ok, I missed this concept completely then, i will dig through the re documentation to find where it mentions this.. thanks

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

Your assignment to string is a syntax error. Did you mean to use '''?

– msw
Aug 20 '10 at 20:15

no I'm new to python so I didn't know about the mutline string delimiter

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:20

add a comment |

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

Try re.findall(r"####(.*?)s(.*?)s####", string, re.DOTALL) (works with re.compile too, of course).

This regexp will return tuples containing the number of the section and the section content.

For your example, this will return [('1', 'ttteest'), ('2', ' nnttest')].

(BTW: your example won't run, for multiline strings, use ''' or """)

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

add a comment |

Multiline doesn't mean . will match line return, it means that ^ and $ are limited to lines only

re.M
re.MULTILINE

When specified, the pattern character '^' matches at the beginning of the string and at the >beginning of each line (immediately following each newline); and the pattern character '$' >matches at the end of the string and at the end of each line (immediately preceding each >newline). By default, '^' matches only at the beginning of the string, and '$' only at the >end of the string and immediately before the newline (if any) at the end of the string.

re.S or re.DOTALL makes . match even new lines.

Source

http://docs.python.org/

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

add a comment |

Your Answer

StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function () {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function () {
StackExchange.snippets.init();
});
});
}, "code-snippets");

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "1"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: true,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: 10,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});

}
});

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fstackoverflow.com%2fquestions%2f3534507%2fpython-regex-matching-pattern-over-multiple-lines-why-isnt-this-working%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

2 Answers
2

active

oldest

votes

Try re.findall(r"####(.*?)s(.*?)s####", string, re.DOTALL) (works with re.compile too, of course).

This regexp will return tuples containing the number of the section and the section content.

For your example, this will return [('1', 'ttteest'), ('2', ' nnttest')].

(BTW: your example won't run, for multiline strings, use ''' or """)

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

add a comment |

Try re.findall(r"####(.*?)s(.*?)s####", string, re.DOTALL) (works with re.compile too, of course).

This regexp will return tuples containing the number of the section and the section content.

For your example, this will return [('1', 'ttteest'), ('2', ' nnttest')].

(BTW: your example won't run, for multiline strings, use ''' or """)

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

add a comment |

Try re.findall(r"####(.*?)s(.*?)s####", string, re.DOTALL) (works with re.compile too, of course).

This regexp will return tuples containing the number of the section and the section content.

For your example, this will return [('1', 'ttteest'), ('2', ' nnttest')].

(BTW: your example won't run, for multiline strings, use ''' or """)

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

Try re.findall(r"####(.*?)s(.*?)s####", string, re.DOTALL) (works with re.compile too, of course).

This regexp will return tuples containing the number of the section and the section content.

For your example, this will return [('1', 'ttteest'), ('2', ' nnttest')].

(BTW: your example won't run, for multiline strings, use ''' or """)

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

leoluk

9,10643546

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

add a comment |

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

thanks, this works

– Rick
Aug 20 '10 at 20:21

add a comment |

Multiline doesn't mean . will match line return, it means that ^ and $ are limited to lines only

re.M
re.MULTILINE

When specified, the pattern character '^' matches at the beginning of the string and at the >beginning of each line (immediately following each newline); and the pattern character '$' >matches at the end of the string and at the end of each line (immediately preceding each >newline). By default, '^' matches only at the beginning of the string, and '$' only at the >end of the string and immediately before the newline (if any) at the end of the string.

re.S or re.DOTALL makes . match even new lines.

Source

http://docs.python.org/

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

add a comment |

Multiline doesn't mean . will match line return, it means that ^ and $ are limited to lines only

re.M
re.MULTILINE

When specified, the pattern character '^' matches at the beginning of the string and at the >beginning of each line (immediately following each newline); and the pattern character '$' >matches at the end of the string and at the end of each line (immediately preceding each >newline). By default, '^' matches only at the beginning of the string, and '$' only at the >end of the string and immediately before the newline (if any) at the end of the string.

re.S or re.DOTALL makes . match even new lines.

Source

http://docs.python.org/

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

add a comment |

Multiline doesn't mean . will match line return, it means that ^ and $ are limited to lines only

re.M
re.MULTILINE

When specified, the pattern character '^' matches at the beginning of the string and at the >beginning of each line (immediately following each newline); and the pattern character '$' >matches at the end of the string and at the end of each line (immediately preceding each >newline). By default, '^' matches only at the beginning of the string, and '$' only at the >end of the string and immediately before the newline (if any) at the end of the string.

re.S or re.DOTALL makes . match even new lines.

Source

http://docs.python.org/

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

Multiline doesn't mean . will match line return, it means that ^ and $ are limited to lines only

re.M
re.MULTILINE

When specified, the pattern character '^' matches at the beginning of the string and at the >beginning of each line (immediately following each newline); and the pattern character '$' >matches at the end of the string and at the end of each line (immediately preceding each >newline). By default, '^' matches only at the beginning of the string, and '$' only at the >end of the string and immediately before the newline (if any) at the end of the string.

re.S or re.DOTALL makes . match even new lines.

Source

http://docs.python.org/

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

answered Aug 20 '10 at 20:16

Colin Hebert

75.9k12137137

add a comment |

draft saved

draft discarded

Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow!

Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid …

Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.

To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Post as a guest

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

Name

Required, but never shown

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here

搜尋此網誌

Wsrtjtyk