Does Python have a capability to use a Match object as input to a string with backreferences, eg:
match = re.match("ab(.*)", "abcd")
print re.some_replace_function("match is: \1", match) // prints "match is: cd"
You could implement yourself using usual string replace functions, but I'm sure the obvious implementation will miss edge cases resulting in subtle bugs.
You can use re.sub (instead of re.match) to search and replace strings.
To use back-references, the best practices is to use raw strings, e.g.: r"\1", or double-escaped string, e.g. "\\1":
import re
result = re.sub(r"ab(.*)", r"match is: \1", "abcd")
print(result)
# -> match is: cd
But, if you already have a Match Object , you can use the expand() method:
mo = re.match(r"ab(.*)", "abcd")
result = mo.expand(r"match is: \1")
print(result)
# -> match is: cd
