Getting the pattern back from a compiled re?

Question

Assume I have created a compiled re:

x = re.compile('^\d+$')

Is there a way to extract the pattern string (^\d+$) back from the x?

this is a duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/189861/what-property-returns-the-regular-expression-used-when-recompile-was-called (although this one is stated more nicely) — , Oct 10 '08 at 13:06
possible duplicate of [how can i obtain pattern string from compiled regexp pattern in python](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1415924/how-can-i-obtain-pattern-string-from-compiled-regexp-pattern-in-python) - while this Q here was earlier, the later one has answers with more info, including Py3 — cfi, Oct 18 '13 at 23:20
Possible duplicate of [What property returns the regular expression used when re.compile was called?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/189861/what-property-returns-the-regular-expression-used-when-re-compile-was-called) — fabrik, Sep 18 '18 at 10:33

score 31 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 22 '15 at 01:05

31

You can get it back with

x.pattern

edited Apr 22 '15 at 01:05

Thanatos

answered Oct 10 '08 at 12:01

Bill the Lizard

2

bill, do you know why dir(x) does not show pattern in the list? – Bartosz Radaczyński Oct 10 '08 at 12:05
I'm not sure. It could be because it's not a method, but a property. – Bill the Lizard Oct 10 '08 at 12:09
1

I'll post another question :) – Bartosz Radaczyński Oct 10 '08 at 12:12
1

Good idea, now I'm interested to know. :) – Bill the Lizard Oct 10 '08 at 12:14
I actually rephrased it a bit, since the docs say that the list need not to be complete (whatever Guido means by this statement...). check it out here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/191010/how-to-get-a-complete-list-of-objects-methods-and-attributes – Bartosz Radaczyński Oct 10 '08 at 12:20

1 Answers1