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Python Regular Expressions in Python Introduction to Regular Expressions Word Length

Leo Marco Corpuz
Leo Marco Corpuz
18,975 Points
Posted by Leo Marco Corpuz
Leo Marco Corpuz
18,975 Points

Python regular expressions

I’m getting numbers as outputs. Also, I’m getting incomplete words as outputs that match the count length.

word_length.py 
import re

# EXAMPLE:
# >>> find_words(4, "dog, cat, baby, balloon, me")
# ['baby', 'balloon']
def find_words(count, starg):
    return re.findall(r'\w' * count,starg)

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

The regex may be performing differently from what you expect. For example, if "count" was 3, your regex will be "\w\w\w". This will match any 3 word characters, whether they make up a complete word or not. Also "word characters" are letters, numbers, and underscores.

To get the "long or longer" behavior the instructions ask for, you may need to construct your regex in a different way. Hint: the value of "count" might need to become part of the regex itself.

Leo Marco Corpuz
Leo Marco Corpuz
18,975 Points
Leo Marco Corpuz
Leo Marco Corpuz
18,975 Points

I’ve tried using the count argument (r’\w{count,}’) for word characters that are count long or longer but I’m getting an empty list. Also, how do you get only letters if \w includes both numbers and letters?

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

It's not the word "count" you would place in brackets in the regex, you'll need to use formatting or concatenation to put the value into the regex instead.

And I don't think the challenge requires you to exclude numbers.