Regex speed

[Reinhold Birkenfeld]

Hello,

I recently ported a simple utility script to analyze a data file from
Perl to Python that uses regex substitutions, not more complex than

re1 = re.compile(r"\s*<.*>\s*")
re2 = re.compile(r".*\((.*)\).*")
re3 = re.compile(r'^"(.*)"$')

When run without these regex substitutions, the scripts' speed is nearly
equal. However, with the regexes applied, the Python version's running
time is five times or more of the Perl version's.

So my question is: Why is the re module implemented in pure Python?
Isn't it possible to integrate it into the core or rewrite it in C?

--or--

Is there a Python interface for the PCRE library out there?

Thanks

Reinhold

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