re.sub replace multiple pattern each with different word in a single call

Question

I have a file name in this format,

remote_execute___jenkin%.java
remtoe__plat_jenk.java

I want to replace all occurance of two or three _ with single _,

which I have done like this,

re.sub('_{2,3}','_',name)

this works and replace all occurrence of two or three _ with single _. But in the same re.sub call, i need to replace .java with .jav,

I did this to match both .java and underscores,

\.java$|_{2,3}

but how can I replace .java in the same re.sub call without using another re.sub after replacing underscores,

right now i am doing it like this,

name = re.sub('_{2,3}','_',name)
name = re.sub('\.java$','jav',name)

I want to do above in one re.sub call

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '18 at 19:37

For your example data you could use:

import re
name = "remote_execute___jenkin%.java"
print(re.sub('_(?=_)|(?<=\.jav)a$', "", name))

This would match

_(?=_) Match an underscore and use a positive lookahead to assert that what follows is an underscore which would match the the leading underscores and do not match the last in __ or ___
| or
(?<=\.jav)a$ Positive lookbehind to assert that what is on the left side is .jav and match an a at the end of the line

If the occurences of an underscore must be 2 times or 3 times you might use:

The part that matches 2 or 3 underscores:

(?<!_) Use a negative lookbehind to assert that what is on the left side is not an underscore
_{1,2} match an underscore 1 or 2 times
(?=_[^_]) Positive lookahead to assert that what follows is an underscore followed by not an underscore

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 21 '18 at 00:58

1

Nested re.sub will work

name = re.sub('_{2,3}','_',re.sub('\.java$','jav',name))

answered Jun 21 '18 at 00:58

pyeR_biz

2

but this uses two re.sub again – MaverickD Jun 21 '18 at 04:50
https://stackoverflow.com/a/33642769/7265871 This should help – Prometheus Feb 23 '21 at 07:59

2 Answers2