Regex expression for multiline comment in Python

Question

I want to write a regex expression for multiline comment in Python. I was trying to modify this expression for multiline comment in Java, but I wasn't able to do it, because in Python multiline comment works in a different way.

Regex expression for Java:

(/\*([^*]|[\r\n]|(\*+([^*/]|[\r\n])))*\*+/)|(//.*)

An example of multiline comment in Python:

''' comment comment
comment comment
'''

or

""" comment comment
comment comment
"""

You seem to confuse multiline string literals with multiline comments. See a regex for multiline Python comment here. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 19:19
Thanks for the reply. But it seems that this link is offering a solution for a regular expression in Python for PHP multiline comment. — Marcos Guimaraes
– Marcos Guimaraes, Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 20:07

Laurel · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-31 19:52:17Z

2

(Technically, multiline strings != multiline comments. But that's aside from the point)

The regex (['"])\1\1(.*?)\1{3} should work, but make sure you use re.DOTALL.

(['"]) Find a ' or " and capture it in \1
\1\1 Find 2 more of the same quotes
(.*?) Capture everything until...
\1{3} Find three more identical quotes

edited Mar 31, 2016 at 19:52

answered Mar 31, 2016 at 19:44

Laurel

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2 Comments

Marcos Guimaraes Over a year ago

Thanks for the reply! Does this expression allows break lines? Because I was testing it in this website: link and it only recognized if the quotation marks were in the same line.

Laurel Over a year ago

Did you see this: but make sure you use re.DOTALL? I put it there for a reason. Used like this: re.compile("regex", re.DOTALL)

issam · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-13 18:23:38Z

0

the below work fine to catch the multi line comment block in python

\"""(.|[\r\n])*\"""

answered Apr 13, 2019 at 18:23

issam

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