recording data between [ and ]

[Jim Sizelove]

Simon Brunning wrote:
> On 4/21/05, rbt <rbt at athop1.ath.vt.edu> wrote:
> 
>>string.between(data,[,])
> 
> 
> def between(data, start, end):
>     return re.findall(re.escape(start) + r'([^]]*)'+ re.escape(end), data)
>     

That's cool!
But it doesn't quite work if the end tag is not ']':

 >>> import re
 >>> def between(data, start, end):
... 	return re.findall(re.escape(start) + r'([^]]*)'+ re.escape(end), data)
...
 >>> foo = '''<stuff>   [lsass.exe]
... [System]  <more> stuff
... xxxxx<qqq> [firefox.exe] ......
... '''
 >>> print between(foo, '[', ']')
['lsass.exe', 'System', 'firefox.exe']
 >>> print between(foo, '<', '>')
['stuff', 'more> stuff\nxxxxx<qqq']


Here's a revised version that will work with other tags:

 >>> def between2(data, start, end):
... 	pattern = re.escape(start) + ' # start tag \n' +\
...           r'([^' + re.escape(end) + r']*)' + " # anything except end 
tag \n" +\
...           re.escape(end) + ' # end tag \n'
... 	return re.findall(pattern, data, re.VERBOSE)
...
 >>> print between2(foo, '[', ']')
['lsass.exe', 'System', 'firefox.exe']
 >>> print between2(foo, '<', '>')
['stuff', 'more', 'qqq']

Regards,
Jim Sizelove