Numeric pattern search in regular expression using Python

Question

I have text as below-

my_text = "My telephone number is 408-555-1234"

on which i am searching the pattern

re.findall(r'\d{3}-\d{1,}',my_text)

My intention was to search for three digit numeric value followed by - and then another set of one or more than one digit numeric value. Hence I was expecting the result to be - ['408-555','555-1234'],

However the result i am getting os only ['408-555'] .

Could anyone suggest me what is wrong in my understaning here. And suggest a pattern that would serve my purpose

I think this is because you already matched 555 you cant match it again. — Eraklon, Feb 23 '20 at 15:54
You could use overlapping matches using a positive lookahead `print(re.findall(r'(?=(\d{3}-\d{1,}))',my_text))` — The fourth bird, Feb 23 '20 at 16:03
For finding overlapping matches, see [Python regex find all overlapping matches?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/5616822/674064). — das-g, Feb 23 '20 at 16:06
@das-g - Yes, this helps. I was not aware of this and it really helps. Thank you — Jithin P James, Feb 23 '20 at 16:08

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 23 '20 at 16:14

1

you can use:

re.findall(r'(?=(\d{3}-\d+))', my_text)

output:

['408-555', '555-1234']

answered Feb 23 '20 at 16:14

kederrac

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Numeric pattern search in regular expression using Python

1 Answers1