re.compile.match() results in unicode strings - why?

[Axel Bock]

Hi,

I am doing matches with the re module, and I am experiencing a strange 
problem. I match a string with
	exp = re.compile(blah)
	m = exp.match(string)
	a,b,c,d = m.groups()
now a,b,c,d are all string variables, and they all come out as unicode strings 
(u"xxx").

now my question is: is that "normal" behaviour, for there really is NO 
character possibly triggering any unicode thing - at all. I mean, I don't 
really care, for the program works fine, but I _am_ curious a bit :-)


thanks in advance & greetings,

axel.