Count full string or subset of string in regex

Question

I'm trying to parse some text using regex and would like a combination of strings to only register as one match if the combination appears, but for any substring to be captured if only that substring appears. For example, I want either foo bar or either individual string, such that I get:

text = 'foo bar bar foo'
In: re.findall(some_pattern, text)
Out: ['foo bar', 'bar', 'foo']

Using some_pattern = re.compile(r'foo|bar) returns ['foo', 'bar', 'bar', 'foo']. But I can't begin to think of any other patterns that would make this work. How can I capture this?

Ajax1234 · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-25 19:43:46Z

2

You can use multiple |s:

import re
print(re.findall('foo bar|foo|bar', 'foo bar bar foo'))

Output:

['foo bar', 'bar', 'foo']

answered May 25, 2018 at 19:43

Ajax1234

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user557597 · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-25 20:12:29Z

1

Another way to do it: foo(?: bar)?|bar

answered May 25, 2018 at 20:12

user557597

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Ravindra · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-26 08:44:06Z

1

Could be used like this as well-

import re print(re.findall('((foo)\s?(bar))', 'foo bar bar foo'))

Output:

['foo bar', 'bar', 'foo']

answered May 26, 2018 at 8:44

Ravindra

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