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pythonregexregex-grouppython-re

groupdict in regex

I have the following string:

string = "Malcolm Reynolds"

I wrote a regex for this which will find the first-name and last-name of user:

m = re.match(r"(?P<first_name>\w+) (?P<last_name>\w+)", "Malcolm Reynolds")
m.groupdict()

Result:

{'first_name': 'Malcolm', 'last_name': 'Reynolds'}

Sometimes, I don't get the last name. At that time, my regex fails. Can any one have any idea regarding this?

Solution

  • You may use

    ^(?:(?:M(?:(?:is|r)?s|r)|[JS]r)\.?\s+)?(?P<first_name>\w+)(?:\s+(?P<last_name>\w+))?$

    See the regex demo

    Regex details

    • ^ - start of string
    • (?:(?:M(?:(?:is|r)?s|r)|[JS]r)\.?\s+)? - an optional non-capturing group matching an optional char sequence: Mr, Ms, Mrs, Miss, Jr or Sr with an optional . after and 1+ whitespaces
    • (?P<first_name>\w+) - Group "first_name": one or more word chars
    • (?:\s+(?P<last_name>\w+))? - - an optional non-capturing group matching 1+ whitespaces and then capturing into Group "last_name" 1 or more word chars
    • $ - end of string.