How to escape strings for re.finditer?

[Thomas Passin]

On 3/1/2023 12:04 PM, Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2023-02-28, Cameron Simpson <cs at cskk.id.au> wrote:
> 
>> Regexps are:
>> - cryptic and error prone (you can make them more readable, but the
>>     notation is deliberately both terse and powerful, which means that
>>     small changes can have large effects in behaviour); the "error prone"
>>     part does not mean that a regexp is unreliable, but that writing one
>>     which is _correct_ for your task can be difficult,
> 
> The nasty thing is that writing one that _appears_ to be correct for
> your task is often fairly easy. It will work as you expect for the
> test cases you throw at it, but then fail in confusing ways when
> released into the "real world". If you're lucky, it fails frequently
> and obviously enough that you notice it right away. If you're not
> lucky, it will fail infrequently and subtly for many years to come.
> 
> My rule: never use an RE if you can use the normal string methods
> (even if it takes a a few lines of code using them to replace a single
> RE).

A corollary is that once you get a working regex, don't mess with it if 
you do not absolutely have to.