Python regex error with tuple. Works with list. Bad escape (end of pattern)

Question

I have a list inside a dictionary that holds regex expressions and the program runs as expected. However, when I turn the list into a tuple I get error bad escape (end of pattern) at position 0.

The below gives the error.

import re

phone_num = '660-349-6829'

dict20 = {"phone": (r'\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}|\(\d{3}\)\s*\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}|\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}')}

for k in dict20["phone"]:
    print(k)
    results = re.findall(k, phone_num)
    print(results)


self.string, len(self.string) - 1) from None
sre_constants.error: bad escape (end of pattern) at position 0

This works fine (note list instead of tuple).

import re

phone_num = '660-349-6829'

dict20 = {"phone": [r'\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}|\(\d{3}\)\s*\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}|\d{3}[-\.\s]??\d{4}']}

for k in dict20["phone"]:
    print(k)
    results = re.findall(k, phone_num)
    print(results)

vbar · Accepted Answer · 2018-02-22 17:18:59Z

2

That's not a tuple - just parentheses. You have to add a comma before ')' to make it a tuple.

answered Feb 22, 2018 at 17:18

vbar

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3 Comments

franchyze923 Over a year ago

That was it! Thank you, that explains why my other tuples were working (they had more than 1 value in).

Mr. T Over a year ago

So your description "when I turn the list into a tuple " is less general than it appears. Next time, please add the information, that the behaviour changes, when the tuple contains more than one element.

franchyze923 Over a year ago

Agreed needs more description, however I didn't notice that the behavior was changing based on the tuple size when I asked this question. I thought it was something with that particular regex expression.

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