Shortest code for printing line startswith ['a', 'b'] and endswith ['y', 'z'] Python 3

Question

For an assignment I have to print lines from a text that start with "W" and "Z" and end in "n" and "t" (so W-n, W-t, Z-n, Z-t combo's). I have a code now that works, but it seems a bit long and I was wondering if there is a way to shorten it?

This is the code:

import sys

def main():

    for line in sys.stdin:
        line = line.rstrip()
        if line.startswith("W") and line.endswith("n"):
                print(line)
        if line.startswith("W") and line.endswith("t"):
                print(line)
        if line.startswith("Z") and line.endswith("n"):
                print(line)
        if line.startswith("Z") and line.endswith("t"):
                print(line)

main()

As I said, it works, but it seems a bit elaborate. Any tips on how to shorten?

I tried line.startswith("Z","W") and line.endswith("t","n") but I get a Type Error (all slice indices must be integers or None or have an __index__method).

Answer 1

You could do this:

line = line.rstrip()
if line and line[0] in "WZ" and line[-1] in "nt":
    print(line)

Or use regular expressions:

import re 
# ...
if re.match(r'^[WZ].*[nt]$', line):
    print(line)

# ^ beginning of string
# $ end of string
# [WX] matches W or X
# .*  any character 0 or more times

See the docs on Python regex syntax.