newb: Simple regex problem headache

[Ian Clark]

crybaby wrote:
> import re
> 
> s1 =' 25000 '
> s2 = ' 5.5910 '
> 
> mypat = re.compile('[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*|$)')
> rate= mypat.search(s1)
> print rate.group()
> 
> rate=mypat.search(s2)
> print rate.group()
> rate = mypat.search(s1)
> price = float(rate.group())
> print price
> 
> I get an error when it hits the whole number, that is in this format:
> s1 =' 25000 '
> For whole number s2, mypat catching empty string.  I want it to give
> me 25000.
> I am getting this error:
> 
>     price = float(rate.group())
>     ValueError: empty string for float()
> 
> Anyone knows, how I can get 25000 out of s2 = ' 5.5910 '
> using regex pattern, mypat = re.compile('[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*|$)').  mypat
> works fine for real numbers, but doesn't work for whole numbers.
> 
> thanks
> 

Try this:
     >>> import re
     >>> s1 =' 25000 '
     >>> s2 = ' 5.5910 '
     >>> num_pat = re.compile(r'([0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?)')
     >>> num_pat.search(s1).group(1)
     '25000'
     >>> num_pat.search(s2).group(1)
     '5.5910'

Ian