Python regex: matching a parenthesis within parenthesis

Question

I\'ve been trying to match the following string:

string = \"TEMPLATES = ( (\'index.html\', \'home\'), (\'base.html\', \'base\'))\"

But unfo

Answer 1

First of all, using \( isn't enough to match a parenthesis. Python normally reacts to some escape sequences in its strings, which is why it interprets \( as simple (. You would either have to write \\( or use a raw string, e.g. r'\(' or r"\(".

Second, when you use re.match, you are anchoring the regex search to the start of the string. If you want to look for the pattern anywhere in the string, use re.search.

Like Joseph said in his answer, it's not exactly clear what you want to find. For example:

string = "TEMPLATES = ( ('index.html', 'home'), ('base.html', 'base'))"
print re.findall(r'\([^()]*\)', string)

will print

["('index.html', 'home')", "('base.html', 'base')"]

EDIT:

I stand corrected, @phooji is right: escaping is irrelevant in this specific case. But re.match vs. re.search or re.findall is still important.