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Python Regular Expressions in Python Introduction to Regular Expressions Players Dictionary and Class

Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
3,117 Points
Posted by Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
3,117 Points

Regex code not working: what's missing?

I've struggled with regex and I can't seem to understand what's missing from my code. Is it the spacing? or is wrong altogether? Any help is appreciated.

players.py 
import re

string = '''Love, Kenneth: 20
Chalkley, Andrew: 25
McFarland, Dave: 10
Kesten, Joy: 22
Stewart Pinchback, Pinckney Benton: 18'''

players = re.search(r'''
    (?P<last_name>[\w]+)
    ,\s
    (?P<first_name>[\w]+)
    :\s
    (?P<score>[\d]+)\n'''
    , string, re.I | re.M)

2 Answers

Myers Carpenter
Myers Carpenter
6,421 Points
Myers Carpenter
Myers Carpenter
6,421 Points

Just some hints to get you unstuck.

Run this in a local python to see how this works:

regex_example.py 
import re

string = '''Love, Kenneth: 20
Chalkley, Andrew: 25
McFarland, Dave: 10
Kesten, Joy: 22
Stewart Pinchback, Pinckney Benton: 18'''

players = re.findall(r'(?P<last_name>\w+),\s(?P<first_name>\w+):\s(?P<score>\d+)\n', string, re.I | re.M)

print(players)

re.findall is not what you want to use the in challenge it self, but helps when we are running locally.

This works for all but last entry in the string. \w isn't the right regex matching tool for this.

Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
3,117 Points
Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
Kitxiba Babar Zakariya
3,117 Points

Hi Myers Carpenter, I just tried that code but it didn't work for me. It asked me to include a ^ and $. Yet even after including these characters, it gave me an error message. Any idea why?

Robert Caldwell
Robert Caldwell
3,419 Points
Robert Caldwell
Robert Caldwell
3,419 Points

It took me a few minutes to realize that the last row in string has a first name and last name that are actually two words. You need to account for the space and optional word characters of the second part of the name.