AlienBaby wrote: > When using re patterns of the form 'A|B|C|...' the docs seem to > suggest that once any of A,B,C.. match, it is captured and no further > patterns are tried. But I am seeing, > > st=' Id Name Prov Type CopyOf BsId > Rd -Detailed_State- Adm Snp Usr VSize' > > p='Type *' > re.search(p,st).group() > 'Type ' > > p='Type *| *Type' > re.search(p,st).group() > ' Type' > > > Shouldn’t the second search return the same as the first, if further > patterns are not tried? > > The documentation appears to suggest the first match should be > returned, or am I misunderstanding?
All alternatives are tried at a given starting position in the string before the algorithm advances to the next position. The second alternative " *Type", at least one space followed by the character sequence "Type" matches right after "Prov" in your example, therefore the first alternative, "Type" and any following spaces, which would match after "Prov " is never tried. Maybe you accidentally typed one extra " "? If you didn't " +Type" would be clearer. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
