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classification
Title: Improve the repr for regular expression match objects
Type: enhancement Stage: resolved
Components: Library (Lib), Regular Expressions Versions: Python 3.4
process
Status: closed Resolution: fixed
Dependencies: Superseder:
Assigned To: serhiy.storchaka Nosy List: Claudiu.Popa, chris.jerdonek, ezio.melotti, mrabarnett, python-dev, rhettinger, serhiy.storchaka
Priority: normal Keywords: patch

Created on 2013-01-30 23:53 by rhettinger, last changed 2022-04-11 14:57 by admin. This issue is now closed.

Files
File name Uploaded Description Edit
sre.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-08-20 13:23 review
sre_repr2.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-09-13 16:53 review
sre_repr3.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-09-13 17:33 review
sre_repr4.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-10-16 11:28 review
sre_repr5.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-10-16 14:26 review
sre_match_repr.patch serhiy.storchaka, 2013-10-17 19:57 review
sre_repr6.patch Claudiu.Popa, 2013-10-19 06:57 review
Messages (24)
msg180999 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-01-30 23:53
Experience teaching Python has shown that people have a hard time learning to work with match objects.  A contributing cause is the opaque repr:

    >>> import re
    >>> s = 'On 3/14/2013, Python celebrate Pi day.'
    >>> mo = re.search(r'\d+/\d+/\d+', s)
    >>> mo
    <_sre.SRE_Match object at 0x100456100>

They could explore the match object with dir() and help() and the matchobject methods and attributes:

    >>> dir(mo)
    ['__class__', '__copy__', '__deepcopy__', ...
     'end', 'endpos', 'expand', 'group', ... ]
     
    >>> mo.start()
    3
    >>> mo.end()
    12
    >>> mo.group(0)
    '3/14/2013'

However, this gets old when experimenting with alternative regular expressions.  A better solution is to improve the repr:

    >>> re.search(r'\d+/\d+/\d+', s)
    <SRE Match object: start=3, stop=12, group(0)='3/14/2013'>

This would make the regular expression module much easier to work with.
msg181001 - (view) Author: Ezio Melotti (ezio.melotti) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-01-31 00:07
Showing start and stop would be OK, but there might be many groups and they might contain lot of text, so they can't simply be included in the repr as they are.
FWIW there was another issue about changing _sre.SRE_Match to something better, but I can't find it right now.
msg181002 - (view) Author: Chris Jerdonek (chris.jerdonek) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-01-31 00:59
Is this a duplicate of issue 13592?
msg181004 - (view) Author: Raymond Hettinger (rhettinger) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-01-31 02:05
Just showing group(0) should be helpful.  And perhaps the number of groups.   If a string is really long, we can truncate it like reprlib does.

The main goal is to make it easier to work with match objects at the interactive prompt.  They are currently too opaque.
msg181043 - (view) Author: Ezio Melotti (ezio.melotti) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-01-31 20:57
#13592 is indeed the issue I was thinking about, but apparently that's about _sre.SRE_Pattern, so it's not the same thing.

> Just showing group(0) should be helpful.

Often the interesting group is group(1), so showing only group(0) seems a bit arbitrary.

> And perhaps the number of groups.

If we show only group(0), this might be useful as an indication that there are(n't) other groups.

> If a string is really long, we can truncate it like reprlib does.

That's certainly an option.

FWIW I don't usually care about the start/end, and, if included, these values could be included as span=(3,12).
msg195687 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-08-20 13:23
Here's my patch attempt. The repr of a match object has the following format:
(groups=\d+, span=(start, end), group0=the entire group or the first X characters, where X is represented by a new constant in sre_constants.h, SRE_MATCH_REPR_SIZE).
msg197546 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-09-13 04:16
What about such output?

    >>> re.search('p((a)|(b))(c)?', 'unpack')
    <SRE Match object: [2: 5]: 'p'(('a')())('c')>

Or may be ('p', [['a'], []], ['c']) if you prefer legal Python expression.
msg197579 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-09-13 14:15
Serhiy, at the first glance, that repr doesn't make sense to me, thus it seems a little difficult to comprehend.
msg197609 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-09-13 16:23
Well, then first will commit a simpler patch. I left comments on Rietveld.
msg197610 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-09-13 16:53
Here's the new version. I added a few replies on the Rietveld.
msg197618 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-09-13 17:33
Added the new version.
msg200042 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-16 09:02
Serhiy, are there any left issues with my latest patch? It would be nice if we could get this into 3.4.
msg200053 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-16 11:28
Added the new patch, which addresses Serhiy's comments.
Also, this approach fails when bytes are involved:

>>> import re
>>> re.search(b"a", b"a")
Assertion failed: (PyUnicode_Check(op)), function _PyUnicode_CheckConsistency, file Objects/unicodeobject.c, line 309.

Should a check be added for this also?
msg200055 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-16 12:26
Use correct first argument to getslice().
msg200059 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-16 14:26
Latest patch attached.
msg200065 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-16 17:45
It is too complicated (and perhaps erroneous). Why not use just self->pattern->logical_charsize?
msg200111 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-17 06:19
I could use self->pattern->logical_size, but it seems that I still need the call to getstring for bytes & co, to obtain the view to the underlying buffer (otherwise the group0 part from the repr will contain random bytes). I didn't find a simpler way to achieve this.
msg200157 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-17 19:57
Well. Here is a patch. I have changed repr() a little. repr() now contains match type qualified name (_sre.SRE_Match). "groups" now equals len(m.groups()). "span" representation now contains a comma (as repr(m.span())).

Raymond, Ezio, is it good to you?
msg200356 - (view) Author: Ezio Melotti (ezio.melotti) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-19 01:40
I discussed this briefly with Serhiy on IRC and I think the repr can be improved.
Currently it looks like:
>>> re.compile(r'[/\\]([.]svn)').match('/.svn')
<_sre.SRE_Match object: groups=1, span=(0, 5), group0='/.svn'>

One problem is that the group count doesn't include group 0, so from the example repr one would expect that the info are about the 1 (and only) group in "groups=", whereas that is actually group 0 and there's an additional group 1 that is not included in the repr.

A possible solution is to separate the group count from the info about group 0:
<_sre.SRE_Match object (1 group); group0='/.svn', span=(0, 5)>

To make things even less confusing we could avoid calling it group0 and use something like "match=", or alternatively remove the group count (doesn't the count depend only on the regex, and not on the string?).
msg200378 - (view) Author: PCManticore (Claudiu.Popa) * (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-19 06:57
Added patch based on Serhiy's, which addresses your comments. It drops the group count and renames group0 to `match`.
msg200549 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-20 07:33
LGTM (except unrelated empty line at the end of Modules/_sre.c).
msg200558 - (view) Author: Roundup Robot (python-dev) (Python triager) Date: 2013-10-20 10:13
New changeset 29764a7bd6ba by Serhiy Storchaka in branch 'default':
Issue #17087: Improved the repr for regular expression match objects.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/29764a7bd6ba
msg200559 - (view) Author: Serhiy Storchaka (serhiy.storchaka) * (Python committer) Date: 2013-10-20 10:16
Thanks all participants for the discussion.
msg204412 - (view) Author: Roundup Robot (python-dev) (Python triager) Date: 2013-11-25 21:20
New changeset 4ba7a29fe02c by Ezio Melotti in branch 'default':
#13592, #17087: add whatsnew entry about regex/match object repr improvements.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/4ba7a29fe02c
History
Date User Action Args
2022-04-11 14:57:41adminsetgithub: 61289
2013-11-25 21:20:38python-devsetmessages: + msg204412
2013-10-20 10:16:20serhiy.storchakasetstatus: open -> closed
resolution: fixed
messages: + msg200559

stage: patch review -> resolved
2013-10-20 10:13:52python-devsetnosy: + python-dev
messages: + msg200558
2013-10-20 07:33:33serhiy.storchakasetmessages: + msg200549
2013-10-19 06:57:08Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre_repr6.patch

messages: + msg200378
2013-10-19 01:40:32ezio.melottisetmessages: + msg200356
2013-10-17 19:57:36serhiy.storchakasetfiles: + sre_match_repr.patch
assignee: serhiy.storchaka
messages: + msg200157
2013-10-17 06:19:16Claudiu.Popasetmessages: + msg200111
2013-10-16 17:45:55serhiy.storchakasetmessages: + msg200065
2013-10-16 14:26:12Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre_repr5.patch

messages: + msg200059
2013-10-16 12:26:45serhiy.storchakasetmessages: + msg200055
2013-10-16 11:28:34Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre_repr4.patch

messages: + msg200053
2013-10-16 09:02:33Claudiu.Popasetmessages: + msg200042
2013-09-13 17:33:25Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre_repr3.patch

messages: + msg197618
2013-09-13 16:53:36Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre_repr2.patch

messages: + msg197610
2013-09-13 16:23:14serhiy.storchakasetmessages: + msg197609
2013-09-13 14:15:36Claudiu.Popasetmessages: + msg197579
2013-09-13 04:16:39serhiy.storchakasetmessages: + msg197546
2013-08-20 14:08:37serhiy.storchakasetnosy: + serhiy.storchaka

stage: needs patch -> patch review
2013-08-20 13:23:35Claudiu.Popasetfiles: + sre.patch

nosy: + Claudiu.Popa
messages: + msg195687

keywords: + patch
2013-01-31 20:57:32ezio.melottisetmessages: + msg181043
2013-01-31 02:05:11rhettingersetmessages: + msg181004
2013-01-31 00:59:43chris.jerdoneksetnosy: + chris.jerdonek
messages: + msg181002
2013-01-31 00:07:35ezio.melottisetnosy: + ezio.melotti, mrabarnett
messages: + msg181001

components: + Regular Expressions
stage: needs patch
2013-01-30 23:53:02rhettingercreate