escape sequences and string comparisons

[jkndeja at my-deja.com]

OK, answering my own question: The Online Python documentation says
(re. String literals, _my emphasis_):

"Unlike Standard C, all unrecognized escape sequences are left in the
string unchanged, i.e., _the backslash is left in the string_. (This
behavior is useful when debugging: if an escape sequence is mistyped,
the resulting output is more easily recognized as broken.) "

To which I reply:
	- Serves me right for not RTFM ... ;-/
	- not sure that I'm convinced by the debugging argument
	- I still think this makes re.escape() less useful than it
might be. How about a function which turns a string into an 'escaped'
form such that it would be an 'exact' RE match with itself?

I'll go and lie down now. Thanks for listening ;-)

	jon N


Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/