How do I search for a pattern within a text file using Python combining regex & string/file operations and store instances of the pattern?

Question

So essentially I\'m looking for specifically a 4 digit code within two angle brackets within a text file. I know that I need to open the text file and then parse line by lin

Answer 1

import re
pattern = re.compile("<(\d{4,5})>")

for i, line in enumerate(open('test.txt')):
    for match in re.finditer(pattern, line):
        print 'Found on line %s: %s' % (i+1, match.group())

A couple of notes about the regex:

• You don't need the ? at the end and the outer (...) if you don't want to match the number with the angle brackets, but only want the number itself
• It matches either 4 or 5 digits between the angle brackets

Update: It's important to understand that the match and capture in a regex can be quite different. The regex in my snippet above matches the pattern with angle brackets, but I ask to capture only the internal number, without the angle brackets.

More about regex in python can be found here : Regular Expression HOWTO

Answer 2

Doing it in one bulk read:

import re

textfile = open(filename, 'r')
filetext = textfile.read()
textfile.close()
matches = re.findall("(<(\d{4,5})>)?", filetext)

Line by line:

import re

textfile = open(filename, 'r')
matches = []
reg = re.compile("(<(\d{4,5})>)?")
for line in textfile:
    matches += reg.findall(line)
textfile.close()

But again, the matches that returns will not be useful for anything except counting unless you added an offset counter:

import re

textfile = open(filename, 'r')
matches = []
offset = 0
reg = re.compile("(<(\d{4,5})>)?")
for line in textfile:
    matches += [(reg.findall(line),offset)]
    offset += len(line)
textfile.close()

But it still just makes more sense to read the whole file in at once.