Searching fro string and converting it to another string python

Question

def parse_shot_success(string):
    """
    Determine if the shot was successful.
    Input:
        string: a string to be analyzed
    Returns:
        "scores" or "misses" or "not a shot" based on
        the shot success.
    """
    pp = re.compile("(scores|misses|blocks)")
    match = pp.search(string)
    if match.group(1) == "scores":
        return "scores"
    elif match.group(1) == ("blocks|misses"):
        return "misses"
    else:
        return "not a shot"

Hi, I want to to return "misses" or "scores" based on if the player scores or misses in the string so that parse_shot_success("Johnson blocks Lebron's shot") will return misses. I think i have to use for loop but i am not sure how i can incorporate it to my code. Can you help me thanks.

Why using regular expressions? Something like if 'scores' in string: return 'scores'; elif 'misses' in string: return 'misses'; else: return 'not a shot'. There's room for improvement, but that would work — Andrea Corbellini
– Andrea Corbellini, Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 13:03
By the way, in your re-based solution, I think you meant to write match.group(1) == "misses" instead of match.group(1) == ("scores|misses") — Andrea Corbellini
– Andrea Corbellini, Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 13:03
becuse I am trying to return "misses" even though there is "blocks" in sentence — Farhad M.
– Farhad M., Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 13:09
Then you want match.group(1) in ('blocks', 'misses'). Still, I think regular expressions are overkill for this task — Andrea Corbellini
– Andrea Corbellini, Commented Feb 5, 2016 at 13:23

Andrea Corbellini · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-05 14:26:27Z

If you really want to go with regular expressions:

def parse_shot_success(string):
    pp = re.compile("(scores|misses|blocks)")
    match = pp.search(string)

    if not match:
        # https://docs.python.org/dev/library/re.html#re.search
        # "Return None if no position in the string matches the pattern"
        return "not a shot"
    elif match.group(1) == "scores":
        return "scores"
    elif match.group(1) in ("blocks", "misses"):
        return "misses"
    else:
        raise AssertionError

But this problem can be easily solved in other ways:

def parse_shot_success(string):
    if 'scores' in string:
        return 'scores'
    elif 'blocks' in string or 'misses' in string:
        return 'misses'
    else:
        return 'not a shot'

Or also:

def parse_shot_success(string):
    words = [
        # (word, return value)
        ('scores', 'scores'),
        ('blocks', 'misses'),
        ('misses', 'misses'),
    ]

    for word, result in words:
        if word in string:
            return result

    return 'not a shot'

There are a few problems that you have not considered:

What if I give you the string "SCORE" (uppercase)?
What if there's a player whose name is "blocksmith" (contains the word "blocks")? This is a case where using regular expressions may be the easiest way.

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