Regex expression to find strings between two strings in Python

Question

I am trying to write a regular expression which returns a string which is between two other strings. For example: I want to get the string along with spaces which resides between the strings "15/08/2017" and "$610,000"

a='172 211 342    15/08/2017  TRANSFER OF LAND   $610,000        CASH & MTGE'

should return

"TRANSFER OF LAND"

Here is the expression I have pieced together so far:

re.search(r'15/08/2017(.*?)$610,000', a).group(1)

It doesn't return any matches. I think it is because we also need to consider spaces in the expression. Is there a way to find strings between two strings ignoring the spaces?

It is because you need to escape $.

revo
– revo

2018-12-19 06:34:30 +00:00
Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 6:34 — revo
– revo, Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 6:34

Rakesh · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-19 06:31:42Z

2

Use Regex Lookbehind & Lookahead

Ex:

import re

a='172 211 342 15/08/2017 TRANSFER OF LAND $610,000 CASH & MTGE'
print(re.search(r"(?<=15/08/2017).*?(?=\$610,000)", a).group())

Output:

 TRANSFER OF LAND

answered Dec 19, 2018 at 6:31

Rakesh

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dawg · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-19 06:35:10Z

1

>>> re.search(r'15/08/2017(.*)\$610,000',a).group(1)
'  TRANSFER OF LAND   '

Since $ is a regex metacharacter (standing for the end of a logical line), you need to escape it to use as a literal '$'.

answered Dec 19, 2018 at 6:35

dawg

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ic3b3rg · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-19 06:34:32Z

0

Might be easier to use find:

a = '172 211 342 15/08/2017 TRANSFER OF LAND $610,000 CASH & MTGE'
b = '15/08/2017'
c = '$610,000'

a[a.find(b) + len(b):a.find(c)].strip()

'TRANSFER OF LAND'

answered Dec 19, 2018 at 6:34

ic3b3rg

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