Splitting strings in python using import re

Question

Why does this work:

string = 'N{P}[ST]{P}'

>>> import re
>>> re.split(r"[\[\]]",  string)
>>> ['N{P}', 'ST', '{P}']

But this don't?

>>> re.split(r"{\{\}}", string)

I highly recommend you regexr, it's a wonderful tool for learning regular expressions. — Jezor
– Jezor, Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 16:14

Jean-François Fabre · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-28 16:08:14Z

1

You have to do this:

re.split(r"[{}]", string)

r"{\{\}}" is a special re syntax to repeat groups (ex: (ab){1,3} matches ab, abab or ababab) but not the character range (note that you don't have to escape the curly braces in a character range). (I admit I don't know what your strange regex is supposed to do specially in the re.split context, but not what you want :))

answered Aug 28, 2016 at 16:08

Jean-François Fabre♦

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RomanPerekhrest · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-28 16:12:02Z

0

{ and } are meta-characters in regular expressions and should be escaped or put into a character class
{\{\}} - means just escaped curly braces within unescaped

answered Aug 28, 2016 at 16:12

RomanPerekhrest

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1 Comment

Jean-François Fabre Over a year ago

just out of curiosity, do you have an idea of what it does? (since it doesn't crash)

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