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Python Regular Expressions in Python Introduction to Regular Expressions Word Length

Dezhi Zhu
Dezhi Zhu
2,662 Points
Posted by Dezhi Zhu
Dezhi Zhu
2,662 Points

Please help me! I am so confused

Create a function named find_words that takes a count and a string. Return a list of all of the words in the string that are count word characters long or longer.

word_length.py 
import re

# EXAMPLE:
# >>> find_words(4, "dog, cat, baby, balloon, me")
# ['baby', 'balloon']
def find_words(num,string):
    a = re.findall('\w{int(num),}',string)
    return(a)

1 Answer

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

Here's a couple of hints:

  • if you put the word "num" inside a string (with or without "int()" around it), it does not represent a value
  • you can convert a number to a string and then use concatenation to join it with other strings
Dezhi Zhu
Dezhi Zhu
2,662 Points
Dezhi Zhu
Dezhi Zhu
2,662 Points

Hi Steven Thanks so much for help. There is one more thing I am quite confused.

a = re.findall('\w{{},}'.format(num),string)

Why this still not work? Where and how should I put curly bracket?

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,275 Points

When using .format, if you need to include a brace character in the literal text, it can be escaped by doubling: {{ and }}.