if "[" is the first char in a string, then re.match can't match any pattern from the string, but re.findall works fine

details as follows:

[da@namenode log]$ python3
Python 3.4.3 (default, Jun 14 2015, 14:23:40) 
[GCC 4.4.7 20120313 (Red Hat 4.4.7-11)] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import re
>>> cyzd="[abc]"
>>> cyzd
'[abc]'
>>> pattern="ab(.*)"
>>> pattern
'ab(.*)'
>>> match=re.match(pattern, cyzd)
>>> match
>>> pattern=r'ab(.*)'     
>>> re.findall(pattern, cyzd)
['c]']

re.match() checks if the beginning of the string matches the regular expression pattern. Use re.search() if you want to find the match not at the beginning of the string.

https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#re.match
https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#re.search

hi Serhiy Storchaka
thank you for your explanation, it helps a lot

2017-04-01 15:44 GMT+08:00 Serhiy Storchaka <report@bugs.python.org>:

>
> Serhiy Storchaka added the comment:
>
> re.match() checks if the beginning of the string matches the regular
> expression pattern. Use re.search() if you want to find the match not at
> the beginning of the string.
>
> https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#re.match
> https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html#re.search
>
> ----------
> nosy: +serhiy.storchaka
> resolution:  -> not a bug
> stage:  -> resolved
> status: open -> closed
>
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue29959>
> _______________________________________
>