best way to do a series of regexp checks with groups

[Mark Fanty]

In perl, I might do (made up example just to illustrate the point):

if(/add (\d+) (\d+)/) {
  do_add($1, $2);
} elsif (/mult (\d+) (\d+)/) {
  do_mult($1,$2);
} elsif(/help (\w+)/) {
  show_help($1);
}

or even

do_add($1,$2) if /add (\d+) (\d+)/;
do_mult($1,$2) if /mult (\d+) (\d+)/;
show_help($1) if /help (\w+)/;

How can I best do this in pyhon?  Attempt 1:

m = re.search(r'add (\d+) (\d+)', $line)
if m:
    do_add(m.group(1), m.group(2))
else:
    m = re.search(r'mult (\d+) (\d+)', $line)
    if m:
        do_mult(m.group(1), m.group(2))
    else:
        m = re.search(r'help (\w+)', $line)
        show_help(m.group(1))

The increasing nesting is a problem.  I could put them in a while loop just 
so I can use break

while 1:
    m = re.search(r'add (\d+) (\d+)', $line)
    if m:
        do_add(m.group(1), m.group(2))
        break
    m = re.search(r'mult (\d+) (\d+)', $line)
    if m:
        do_mult(m.group(1), m.group(2))
        break
    m = re.search(r'help (\w+)', $line)
    if m:
        show_help(m.group(1))
        break

No nesting, but the while is misleading since I'm not looping and this is a 
bit awkward.  I don't mind a few more key strokes, but I'd like clarity.  I 
wish I could do

if m =  re.search(r'add (\d+) (\d+)', $line):
    do_add(m.group(1), m.group(2))
elif m = re.search(r'mult (\d+) (\d+)', $line):
    do_mult(m.group(1), m.group(2))
else m = re.search(r'help (\w+)', $line):
    show_help(m.group(1))

Now that's what I'm looking for, but I can't put the assignment in an 
expression.  Any recommendations?  Less "tricky" is better.  Not having to 
import some personal module with a def to help would be better (e.g. for 
sharing)..

Thanks