Steven D'Aprano wrote: > _t1 = re.compile(r"(\d)\1") # compile-time > _t2 = re.compile(r"(\s)\1") # compile-time > re.compile(_t1.pattern + _t2.pattern) # run-time It would be weird if p"(\d)\1" + p"(\s)\1" worked but re.compile(r"(\d)\1") + re.compile(r"(\s)\1") didn't. -- Greg