Why is the regex "java" not matching "/something.java" using Python's re module?

Question

This is the code:

import re
regex = re.compile('java')
print regex.match('/something.java')

This is the output:

None

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/180986/what-is-the-difference-between-pythons-re-search-and-re-match — Mazdak, Sep 09 '16 at 16:06
Huh. Thought that was what the `^` symbol was for. Thanks, search worked. — mattalxndr, Sep 09 '16 at 16:10
Probable problem: `match` requires a whole string match, `search` will find substrings. — , Sep 09 '16 at 16:10
@sln In Python, `re.match` only anchors the match at the start of the string. — Wiktor Stribiżew, Sep 09 '16 at 16:13
Sorry @WiktorStribiżew I guess it's 'Probable problem: match requires a half string match' — , Sep 09 '16 at 16:17

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

1

Because python match matches from the beginning. see python -- re.match vs. re.search you need to use pattern .*java if you want to use match.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

Community

answered Sep 09 '16 at 16:09

voyta

1 Answers1