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Python Regular Expressions in Python Introduction to Regular Expressions Players Dictionary and Class

John Schut
John Schut
2,317 Points
Posted by John Schut
John Schut
2,317 Points

players.py

I don't get the order of the lastname and firstname right for "Stewart Pinchback" and "Pinckney Benton". I have no idea how to do this (because there 'format' is so different from the first 4 names).

players.py 
import re

string = '''Love, Kenneth: 20
Chalkley, Andrew: 25
McFarland, Dave: 10
Kesten, Joy: 22
Stewart Pinchback, Pinckney Benton: 18'''

players = re.search(r'''
                    (?P<last_name>[\w]+),?\s?:?
                    (?P<first_name>[\w]+):?\s?
                    (?P<score>[\d]+)?
                    ''', string, re.MULTILINE|re.I|re.X)

2 Answers

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,248 Points

You are sooooo close!

You just need to include a space with your word character classes ("[\w ]") to allow the multi-word names to be accepted as a single name.

And while it's beyond what's necessary to pass the challenge, I'd probably not allow the separator characters or the score to be optional, and make sure the names start and end with a non-space word character

players = re.search(r'''
                    (?P<last_name>\w([\w ]*\w)?),\s*
                    (?P<first_name>\w([\w ]*\w)?):\s*
                    (?P<score>[\d]+)
                    ''', string, re.MULTILINE|re.I|re.X)
John Schut
John Schut
2,317 Points
John Schut
John Schut
2,317 Points

Hi Steven, I took a short break, therefor I answer this late. Thanks for your response! I am going to try it out now.