Differences between python Regular Expression Functions match of and search of

The match () function only detects whether RE matches at the beginning of string, and search () scans the whole string to find a match, that is to say, match () returns only if it matches successfully at the 0 position, and match () returns none if it does not match successfully at the beginning position

For example:

#! /usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding=utf-8 -*-
  
import re
  
text= 'pythontab'
m= re.match(r"\w+", text)
if m: 
    print m.group(0)
else:
    print 'not match'

The result is: pythontab

And:

#! /usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding=utf-8 -*-
#
  
import re
  
text= '@pythontab'
m= re.match(r"\w+", text)
if m: 
    print m.group(0)
else:
    print 'not match'

The result is: not match

search () scans the entire string and returns the first successful match

For example:

#! /usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding=utf-8 -*-
#
  
import re
  
text= 'pythontab'
m= re.search(r"\w+", text)
if m: 
    print m.group(0)
else:
    print 'not match'

The result is: pythontab

What about this:

#! /usr/bin/env python
# -*- coding=utf-8 -*-
#
  
import re
  
text= '@pythontab'
m= re.search(r"\w+", text)
if m: 
    print m.group(0)
else:
    print 'not match'

The result is: pythontab

For more information on python regular functions, please see the following related articles