Regex? Match part of or whole word

Question

I was wondering if it\'s possible to use regex with python to capture a word, or a part of the word (if it\'s at the end of the string).

Eg:
target word - potato

Answer 1

import re
patt = re.compile(r'(p|po|pot|pota|potat|potato)$')
patt.search(string)

I was tempted to use r'po?t?a?t?o?$', but that would also match poto or pott.