How to replace case insentive string in python, with the target string in?

Question

I know how to replace string in python, but I just want to add some mark around the target string while the target string is caseinsentive. Is there any simple way I can use? For example, I want to add bracket around some words like:

"I have apple."  ->  "I have (apple)."
"I have Apple."  ->  "I have (Apple)."
"I have APPLE."  ->  "I have (APPLE)."

See IGNORECASE flag. docs.python.org/2/howto/regex.html#compilation-flags — OneCricketeer
– OneCricketeer, Commented Apr 15, 2017 at 9:58

Thierry Lathuille · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-15 10:15:53Z

2

You must make the matching case-insensitive. You can include the flag in the pattern, as in:

import re

variants = ["I have apple.", "I have Apple.", "I have APPLE and aPpLe."]

def replace_apple_insensitive(s):
    # Adding (?i) makes the matching case-insensitive
    return re.sub(r'(?i)(apple)', r'(\1)', s)

for s in variants:
    print(s, '-->', replace_apple_insensitive(s))

# I have apple. --> I have (apple).
# I have Apple. --> I have (Apple).
# I have APPLE and aPpLe. --> I have (APPLE) and (aPpLe).

Or you can compile the regex and keep the case-insensitive flag out of the pattern:

apple_regex = re.compile(r'(apple)', flags=re.IGNORECASE) # or re.I
print(apple_regex.sub(r'(\1)', variants[2]))

#I have (APPLE) and (aPpLe).

answered Apr 15, 2017 at 10:15

Thierry Lathuille

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