Is it possible to create a REGEX loop that iterates through a list

Question

I'm using the following to find whether a text exist in the sentence and printing out that text:

Example:

import re

lst = ['text1','text2','text3']

sent = 'This is a test to find text1 and text3'

my_regex =re.search(r'\b(text1)\b', sent)

print(my_regex.group())

text1

Question:

is it possible to create a loop similar to the following that will iterate and update the re.search with each value in the list:

note - The list is likely to expand beyond the three listed in the example

for i in lst:
    my_regex =re.search(r'\b(i)\b', sent)
    print(my_regex.group())

You didn't think of using string concatenation? r'\b' + i + r'\b'? — Barmar
– Barmar, Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 0:40
You can search for all three at once: r'\b(text1|text2|text3)\b'. Have you tried that? — Bryan Oakley
– Bryan Oakley, Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 0:44
The list is likely to expand in the future to a decent size, so typing in all instances wouldn't be practical ( I'll update the original question to include the fact that the list is likely to grow) — J_Win
– J_Win, Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 0:50
@Barmar I tried this earlier but I guess something was wrong with my code because I just got it to work. Thanks for suggestion / answer — J_Win
– J_Win, Commented Mar 8, 2018 at 1:08

mypetlion · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-08 00:37:46Z

1

You can use the new f-strings.

for i in lst:
    my_regex =re.search(fr'\b{i}\b', sent)
    print(my_regex.group())

answered Mar 8, 2018 at 0:37

mypetlion

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Srdjan M. · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-08 02:42:35Z

0

[item for item in lst if re.search(r'\b%s\b' % item, sent)]

Or you can use faster solution (~38 times):

[s for s in sent.split() if s in lst]

Output:

['text1', 'text3']

edited Mar 8, 2018 at 2:42

answered Mar 8, 2018 at 0:39

Srdjan M.

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1 Comment

Barmar Over a year ago

The regexp only matches whole words, this will match any substring.

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