Match text including a line break with re

Question

I have a Python code that parses a text file and finds instances of the words within a tag @(my word). To do this I use, e.g.,:

import re

DEF_RE = r"(@\()(?P<text>.+?)\)"

sometext = "find the @(tagged text)."

m = re.search(DEF_RE, sometext)

print(m.group("text"))
tagged text

However, if the file contains the tagged text split over two lines the above method doesn't work, e.g.,

sometext = "find the @(tagged\ntext)."

m = re.search(DEF_RE, sometext)

print(m)
None

Is there are way to change my regular expression string to allow the text to be split over a line?

Turn on the DOTALL flag.`re.DOTALL`. Or replace the `.+?` with `(?:.|[\n\r])+?` — theX, Aug 28 '20 at 15:40

theX · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-28T15:50:27.587

-1

You should turn on the DOTALL flag when searching.

You can either replace re.search(DEF_RE, sometext) with re.search(DEF_RE, sometext, flags=re.DOTALL)

Proof

edited Aug 28 '20 at 15:50

answered Aug 28 '20 at 15:47

theX

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Never suggest `(?:.|[\n\r])+?`. There are well-known `re.S` / `re.DOTALL` / `(?s)` solutions and no need repeating that again and again. – Wiktor Stribiżew Aug 28 '20 at 15:49
@WiktorStribiżew ok – theX Aug 28 '20 at 15:50

Match text including a line break with re

1 Answers1