Captain Dunsel writes: > I have a text file that has lines with numbers occasionally > appearing right before a person's name. For example: > > COLLEGE:ENROLLMENT:COMPLETED EVALUATIONS:624309FUDD, ELMER > > where I want to search for the name "ELMER FUDD" and extract the > number right in front of it "608309" when such a number appears but > the length of the number is variable and using ?<= in a regular > expression will only search for a fixed length. > > Any ideas appreciated!
Search for the digits and the name together. Make the digits a group by putting their pattern in parentheses. If there is a match object, extract the group. >>> line = 'COLLEGE:ENROLLMENT:COMPLETED EVALUATIONS:624309FUDD, ELMER' >>> m = re.search(r':(\d*)ELMER FUDD$', line) >>> m.group(1) if m else 'not found' 'not found' >>> m = re.search(r':(\d*)FUDD, ELMER$', line) >>> m.group(1) if m else 'not found' '624309' If you want a match only when there are digits, use \d+ instead. Look at regex.search and match.group here: <http://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html> -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
