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Itsa Snake
3,852 PointsWhat is the difference between re.findall(r"\w" * 3, data) and re.findall(r"\w{3}", data)) ?
They would appear to have the same output, i.e. show the first 3 characters of any word that is at least 3 characters long.
But how are r"\w" * 3 and the r"\w{3}" supposed to be used differently?
2 Answers
Steven Parker
231,248 PointsBoth of those expressions will select the same thing, and either style can be used for the challenge.
But the first form might be easier to use with a variable to control the size of the match instead of a literal.
Itsa Snake
3,852 PointsThanks a lot. Interesting that the below does not work
count_variable = 3
print(re.findall(r"\w{count_variable}", data))
That therefore makes sense for the two different use cases (i.e. \w{3} without a variable and r"\w" *count_variable if you use one.
Another thing that gets me is all of the instructors use ' instead of ". I don't see any downside in always using ", but in some cases you cannot use '
Steven Parker
231,248 PointsJust putting the name of a variable in a string doesn't cause it to be replaced by its value. There are several different ways to make it happen, but all are more complicated than using the "multiply" syntax.