Regex Replace Words Containing Specified Substring

Question

I am trying to replace words in my string that contain a certain substring. Here is an example

import regex as re

given_in = 'My cat is not like other cats'
desired_out = 'My foo is not like other foo'

I have tried

print(re.sub('cat', 'foo', given_in))
>>>> 'My foo is not like other foos'

and

print(re.sub('.*cat.*', 'foo', given_in))
>>>> 'foo'

What is the right approach here?

re.sub(r'\w*cat\w*', 'foo', in) or re.sub(r'\bcat\w*', 'foo', in), see How to find words containing a certain letter with Regular Expressions? — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Feb 24, 2021 at 11:56

Leonardo Scotti · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-24 13:14:39Z

1

This will work:

import re

given_in = 'My cat is not like other cat'
desired_out = 'My foo is not like other foo'

out = re.subn("\w*(cat)\w*", "foo", given_in)
print(out)

output:

'My foo is not like other foo'

edited Feb 24, 2021 at 13:14

answered Feb 24, 2021 at 13:03

Leonardo Scotti

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