Python regex matching digits after text

If we would be having the same uppercase and lowercase patterns similar to those listed in the question, we would be starting with a simple expression, such as:

([A-Z][a-z]+\s)+

Demo

Test

# coding=utf8
# the above tag defines encoding for this document and is for Python 2.x compatibility

import re

regex = r"([A-Z][a-z]+\s)+"

test_str = ("[bla bla] 1990 The Bronx Warriors 1982\n"
    "[ bl bla] 2012 2009 [ bla bla ]\n"
    "[BLA VLA] The Matrix 1999 bla bla [bla bla]\n")

matches = re.finditer(regex, test_str, re.MULTILINE)

for matchNum, match in enumerate(matches, start=1):

    print ("Match {matchNum} was found at {start}-{end}: {match}".format(matchNum = matchNum, start = match.start(), end = match.end(), match = match.group()))

    for groupNum in range(0, len(match.groups())):
        groupNum = groupNum + 1

        print ("Group {groupNum} found at {start}-{end}: {group}".format(groupNum = groupNum, start = match.start(groupNum), end = match.end(groupNum), group = match.group(groupNum)))

# Note: for Python 2.7 compatibility, use ur"" to prefix the regex and u"" to prefix the test string and substitution.

RegEx

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RegEx Circuit

jex.im visualizes regular expressions:

Try this

re.match( r"\[.*?\]\s([\w\s]+)", title).groups()[0].strip()

Code

Going further, consider reusing your code in a function. Here is equivalent code:

import re


def get_title(s):
    """Return the title from a string."""
    pattern = r"\[.*?\]\s([\w\s]+)"
    p = re.compile(pattern)
    m = p.match(s)
    g = m.groups()
    return g[0].strip()

Demo

get_title("[BLA VLA] The Matrix 1999 bla bla [bla bla]")
# 'The Matrix 1999 bla bla'

get_title("[bla bla] 1990 The Bronx Warriors 1982")
# '1990 The Bronx Warriors 1982'

get_title("[ bl bla] 2012 2009 [ bla bla ]")
# '2012 2009'

Details

See the pattern here:

• \[.*?\]\s: beyond the leading brackets and whitespace
• ([\w\s]+): capture optional alpha-numerals and whitespace

movies = '''[bla bla] 1990 The Bronx Warriors 1982
[ bl bla] 2012 2009 [ bla bla ]
[ bl bla] Normal movie title 2009 [ bla bla ]'''

import re

for movie, year in re.findall(r']\s+(.*)\s+(\d{4}).*?$', movies, flags=re.MULTILINE):
    print('Movie title: [{}] Movie year: [{}]'.format(movie, year))

Prints:

Movie title: [1990 The Bronx Warriors] Movie year: [1982]
Movie title: [2012] Movie year: [2009]
Movie title: [Normal movie title] Movie year: [2009]