Why re.match()?

[kj]

In <4a4e2227$0$7801$426a74cc at news.free.fr> Bruno Desthuilliers <bruno.42.desthuilliers at websiteburo.invalid> writes:

>kj a écrit :
>(snipo
>> To have a special-case
>> re.match() method in addition to a general re.search() method is
>> antithetical to language minimalism,

>FWIW, Python has no pretention to minimalism.

Assuming that you mean by this that Python's authors have no such
pretensions:

"There is real value in having a small language."

			Guido van Rossum, 2007.07.03
			http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-3000/2007-July/008663.html

So there.

BTW, that's just one example.  I've seen similar sentiments expressed
by Guido over and over and over: any new proposed enhancement to
Python must be good enough in his mind to justify cluttering the
language.  That attitude counts as minimalism in my book.

The best explanation I have found so far for re.match is that it
is an unfortunate bit of legacy, something that would not be there
if the design of Python did not have to be mindful of keeping old
code chugging along...

kj