Python regex split

Question

I have a field that can filter over some db columns. But I'm having trouble splitting the search string as I need:

I have this example:

import re
search = '   test "no splits234" this-splits   this_not_splits  asdf123  '
re.split(r'[\s]*[\W][\s]*', search.strip())
['test', 'no', 'splits234', 'this', 'splits', 'this_not_splits', 'asdf123']

Need this output:

['test', 'no splits234', 'this', 'splits', 'this_not_splits', 'asdf', '123']

Do not splits what is in quotes and splits text from numbers. How can I do this?

Don't name strings str. It overrides a builtin name

user3483203
– user3483203

2018-06-15 16:06:04 +00:00
Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 16:06 — user3483203
– user3483203, Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 16:06

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-15 16:42:08Z

2

You can use findall with this regex:

>>> search = '   test "no splits234" this-splits   this_not_splits  asdf123  '
>>> print re.findall(r'"[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*"|[^\s-]+', search)
['test', '"no splits234"', 'this', 'splits', 'this_not_splits', 'asdf123']

RegEx Details:

Expression "[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*" matches string enclosed by double quotes ignoring all escaped quotes.
If there is no quoted string then we simply match 1+ non-space, non-hyphen characters using [^\s-]+

If you want to avoid capturing quotes then use:

>>> print re.findall(r'(?<=")[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*(?=")|[^\s"-]+', search)
['test', 'no splits234', 'this', 'splits', 'this_not_splits', 'asdf123']

UPDATE:

OP has also shown last asdf123 splitting into asdf and 123. For that following regex may work:

>>> print re.findall(r'(?<=")[^"\\]*(?:\\.[^"\\]*)*(?=")|\b[a-zA-Z]+(?=\d)|(?<=[a-zA-Z])\d+|[^\s"-]+', search)
['test', 'no splits234', 'this', 'splits', 'this_not_splits', 'asdf', '123']

edited Jun 15, 2018 at 16:42

answered Jun 15, 2018 at 16:11

anubhava

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3 Comments

Jeff Over a year ago

Almost what I need ... But 'this-splits' should be divided.

Jeff Over a year ago

Thanks! Have some way to split 'asdf' from '123' too?

anubhava Over a year ago

asdf123 is strange as there is no delimiter. You didn't clarify this in question.

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