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

Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points
Posted by Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points

What's wrong with my regexp to solve this issue?

I have error: Bummer! Didn't find the correct information for Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback.

players.py 
import re

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

players = re.match(r'((?P<last_name>[\w]+),? (?P<first_name>\w+),?):? (?P<score>\d+)', string, re.MULTILINE)

I check my regexp with finditer:

players = re.finditer(r'((?P<last_name>[\w]+),? (?P<first_name>\w+),?):? (?P<score>\d+)?', string, re.MULTILINE)
for player in players:
    print '{last_name} {first_name} {score}'.format(**player.groupdict())

And I have output like this:

Love Kenneth 20
Chalkley Andrew 25
McFarland Dave 10
Kesten Joy 22
Stewart Pinchback None
Pinckney Benton 18

Where is a mistake?

Please help me, I really don't know how to solve this issue :(

Cheo R
Cheo R
37,150 Points
Cheo R
Cheo R
37,150 Points

It looks like you're not getting the correct output, where the string is:

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


Love Kenneth 20
Chalkley Andrew 25
McFarland Dave 10
Kesten Joy 22
Stewart Pinchback None
Pinckney Benton 18

where

  • Stewart Pinchback None

should be

  • Pinchback Stewart None

and

  • Pinckney Benton 18

should be

  • Benton Pinckney 18

3 Answers

Kenneth Love
STAFF
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Cheo R is right, you're not catching the right stuff for the first name. Not all first names are a single word. How would you capture word characters and spaces?

Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points
Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points 
players = re.search(r'(?P<last_name>[\w\s]+),\s(?P<first_name>[\w\s]+): (?P<score>\d+)?', string, re.MULTILINE)
for player in players:
    print '{last_name} {first_name} {score}'.format(**player.groupdict())

Result:

Love Kenneth 20

Chalkley Andrew 25

McFarland Dave 10

Kesten Joy 22

Stewart Pinchback Pinckney Benton 18

It's doesn't make sense :( Same error: Bummer! Didn't find the correct information for Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback. I don't get what I do wrong? :)

Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points
Evgeny Chuvelev
Evgeny Chuvelev
3,056 Points

Is regex in my last comment correct? I don't understand how make correct solution for this issue cause I don't know how correct answer should looks like to pass this task and don't get error "Bummer! Didn't find the correct information for Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback."

Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Kenneth Love
Kenneth Love
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Your regex is almost correct. When you're using MULTILINE, you want to be sure and mark the beginning of end of the lines in your pattern. That way the regex knows where and how to break the multi-line string to better match the pattern.