How Can I Use Regular Expressions to Match Entire Words in Python?

Matching Entire Words with Regular Expressions

Finding the right regular expression to accurately match complete words can be challenging. Let's take the following example:

a = "this is a sample"

To identify full words, such as "is" but not partial matches like "hi," a specific regular expression is required.

Solution:

To match whole words, use the regular expression:

re.search(r'\bis\b', your_string)

This expression incorporates the b boundary matcher, which matches the empty string at the start or conclusion of a word.

Explanation:

• r: Raw string prefix to ensure the backslash is interpreted as a special character and not an escape code.
• b: Word boundary matcher
• is: The word to match
• b: Second word boundary matcher

The b boundary matcher matches locations where there isn't an alphanumeric or underscore character adjacent to the match. This ensures that only complete words are captured.

Additional Notes:

• The re module uses a straightforward definition of "word" as a series of alphanumeric or underscore characters, with alphanumeric status depending on local or unicode options.
• Utilizing a raw string prefix is crucial because b without it would symbolize a "backspace" rather than a regex word boundary.

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