How to remove tags from a string in python using regular expressions? (NOT in HTML)

Question

I need to remove tags from a string in python.

Title

What is the most effici

Answer 1

Please avoid using regex. Eventhough regex will work on your simple string, but you'd get problem in the future if you get a complex one.

You can use BeautifulSoup get_text() feature.

from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

text = '<FNT name="Century Schoolbook" size="22">Title</FNT>'
soup = BeautifulSoup(text)

print(soup.get_text())

Answer 2

Searching this regex and replacing it with an empty string should work.

/<[A-Za-z\/][^>]*>/

Example (from python shell):

>>> import re
>>> my_string = '<FNT name="Century Schoolbook" size="22">Title</FNT>'
>>> print re.sub('<[A-Za-z\/][^>]*>', '', my_string)
Title

Answer 3

This should work:

import re
re.sub('<[^>]*>', '', mystring)

To everyone saying that regexes are not the correct tool for the job:

The context of the problem is such that all the objections regarding regular/context-free languages are invalid. His language essentially consists of three entities: a = <, b = >, and c = [^><]+. He wants to remove any occurrences of acb. This fairly directly characterizes his problem as one involving a context-free grammar, and it is not much harder to characterize it as a regular one.

I know everyone likes the "you can't parse HTML with regular expressions" answer, but the OP doesn't want to parse it, he just wants to perform a simple transformation.

Answer 4

If it's only for parsing and retrieving value, you might take a look at BeautifulStoneSoup.

Answer 5

If the source text is well-formed XML, you can use the stdlib module ElementTree:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
mystring = """<FNT name="Century Schoolbook" size="22">Title</FNT>"""
element = ET.XML(mystring)
print element.text  # 'Title'

If the source isn't well-formed, BeautifulSoup is a good suggestion. Using regular expressions to parse tags is not a good idea, as several posters have pointed out.

Answer 6

Use an XML parser, such as ElementTree. Regular expressions are not the right tool for this job.