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Repeating Python regex multiple times

I need to find a string for a few words.

import re

words = [{'word':'test1', 'case':False}, {'word':'test2', 'case':False}]

status = "test1 test2"

for w in words:
    if w['case']:
        r = re.compile("\s#?%s" % w['word'], re.IGNORECASE|re.MULTILINE)
    else:
        r = re.compile("\s#?%s" % w['word'], re.MULTILINE)
    if r.search(status):
        print "Found word %s" % w['word']

For some reason, it will only ever find "test2" and never "test1". Why is this?

I know I can use | markup, but there may be hundreds of words, so I use a for loop.

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2 answers

There is statusno space before test1, while your generated regular expressions require a space.

You can change the test to match either after a space or at the beginning of a line:

for w in words:
    if w['case']:
        r = re.compile("(^|\s)#?%s" % w['word'], re.IGNORECASE|re.MULTILINE)
    else:
        r = re.compile("(^|\s)#?%s" % w['word'], re.MULTILINE)
    if r.search(status):
        print "Found word %s" % w['word']
+7
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, test1. , . test2blabla test2, , , .

\b:

for w in words:
    if w['case']:
        r = re.compile(r"\b%s\b" % w['word'], re.IGNORECASE|re.MULTILINE)
    else:
        r = re.compile(r"\b%s\b" % w['word'], re.MULTILINE)
    if r.search(status):
        print "Found word %s" % w['word']

:

, (whitespace)word (whitespace)#word, \b.

+2

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