On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 at 10:08, Steven D'Aprano <st...@pearwood.info> wrote: > Here's the version of grab I used: > > def grab(text, start, end): > a = text.index(start) > b = text.index(end, a+len(start)) > return text[a+len(start):b] >
This is where Python would benefit from an sscanf-style parser. Instead of regexps, something this simple could be written like this: [fruit] = sscanf(sample, "%*sfruit:%s\n") It's simple left-to-right tokenization, so it's faster than a regex (due to the lack of backtracking). It's approximately as clear, and doesn't require playing with the index and remembering to skip len(start). That said, though - I do think the OP's task is better served by a tokenization pass that transforms the string into something easier to look things up in. ChrisA _______________________________________________ Python-ideas mailing list -- python-ideas@python.org To unsubscribe send an email to python-ideas-le...@python.org https://mail.python.org/mailman3/lists/python-ideas.python.org/ Message archived at https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-ideas@python.org/message/U4BFSBS5EAD7QNBMHZXOXYMBQVMNXCFB/ Code of Conduct: http://python.org/psf/codeofconduct/
