The search Function in Python

This function searches for first occurrence of RE pattern within string with optional flags.

Syntax

Here is the syntax for this function −

re.search(pattern, string, flags=0)

Here is the description of the parameters −

The re.search function returns a match object on success, none on failure. We use group(num) or groups() function of match object to get matched expression.

Example

 Live Demo

#!/usr/bin/python
import re
line = "Cats are smarter than dogs";
searchObj = re.search( r'(.*) are (.*?) .*', line, re.M|re.I)
if searchObj:
   print "searchObj.group() : ", searchObj.group()
   print "searchObj.group(1) : ", searchObj.group(1)
   print "searchObj.group(2) : ", searchObj.group(2)
else:
   print "Nothing found!!"

Output

When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −

searchObj.group() : Cats are smarter than dogs
searchObj.group(1) : Cats
searchObj.group(2) : smarter