>>> re.compile('(?P=<foo>)')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/roy/env/python/lib/python2.7/re.py", line 190, in compile
    return _compile(pattern, flags)
  File "/home/roy/env/python/lib/python2.7/re.py", line 242, in _compile
    raise error, v # invalid expression
sre_constants.error: bad character in group name


The error here is that I put a "=" where it shouldn't be.  The error message is misleading.  The "group name" is the stuff between the <>'s.  That part's fine.  What's broken is the stuff outside of the <>'s.

Unclear if it's reasonable to expect such precise error reporting here, but this one seems particularly misleading, so opening a ticket to record the observation.

The error is that '<' is not legal in a group name, and the parser is parsing the P= form.  The error message could be improved by including the bad character in the message.

See also issue14462. It will be easier to include a full group name than an invalid character.

New changeset 65db865c0851 by R David Murray in branch '3.3':
#17341: Include name in re error message about invalid group name.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/65db865c0851

New changeset 227fed7a05d4 by R David Murray in branch 'default':
Merge #17341: Include name in re error message about invalid group name.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/227fed7a05d4

New changeset bbb3aa45b4ea by R David Murray in branch '2.7':
#17341: Include name in re error message about invalid group name.
http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/bbb3aa45b4ea

Thanks Jason.