Python find text using regex for this pattern

Question

I want to separate the text based on occurrence of db access in the following text,

db access alpha customer1
 deny bla bla
db access beta customer99
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla
db access game customer14
 permit no
!

(Actual text start with \r\n on linux). I want

db access alpha customer1
 deny bla bla

and

db access beta customer99
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla
 permit bla bla

and

db access game customer14
 permit no

as separate element. I closest I can get is,

>>> re.findall('db\s+access.*?db\s+access',txt,re.M|re.S)
['db access alpha customer1\n     deny bla bla\n    db access']

and

>>> re.findall('db\s+access.*?!',txt,re.M|re.S)
['db access alpha customer1\n     deny bla bla\n    db access beta customer99\n     permit bla bla\n     permit bla bla\n     permit bla bla\n     permit bla bla\n    db access game customer14\n     permit no\n    !']

Any suggestion will be helpful.

@AndersonGreen @RobertHarvey Yes, Other option I have is to convert txt in list and then iterate over to find db access and create a separate txt — Netro
– Netro, Commented May 3, 2014 at 18:20
You can also split a string without removing its separators: stackoverflow.com/questions/7866128/… — Anderson Green
– Anderson Green, Commented May 3, 2014 at 18:21

devnull · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-03 18:22:19Z

1

If you really want to make use of regex, then you could use a positive lookahead:

>>> txt = '''
... 
... db access alpha customer1
...  deny bla bla
... db access beta customer99
...  permit bla bla
...  permit bla bla
...  permit bla bla
...  permit bla bla
... db access game customer14
...  permit no
... !'''
>>> re.findall('db\s+access.*?(?=db\s+access|!)',s,re.M|re.S)
['db access alpha customer1\n deny bla bla\n', 'db access beta customer99\n permit bla bla\n permit bla bla\n permit bla bla\n permit bla bla\n', 'db access game customer14\n permit no\n']

answered May 3, 2014 at 18:22

devnull

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3 Comments

Netro Over a year ago

it works like a charm. I didn't get ?=db\s+access. Will you please explain this?

Netro Over a year ago

I saw the doc,docs.python.org/2/library/re.html it explain very well thanks.

devnull Over a year ago

@Netro It'd match something followed by db\s+access or ! without making those a part of the match.

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