How to chain multiple re.sub() commands in Python

user_5411915 0
Viewed 12193

I would like to do multiple re.sub() replacements on a string and I'm replacing with different strings each time.

This looks so repetitive when I have many substrings to replace. Can someone please suggest a nicer way to do this?

stuff = re.sub('__this__', 'something', stuff)
stuff = re.sub('__This__', 'when', stuff)
stuff = re.sub(' ', 'this', stuff)
stuff = re.sub('.', 'is', stuff)
stuff = re.sub('__', 'different', stuff).capitalize()
python regex
2 Answers

Store the search/replace strings in a list and loop over it:

replacements = [
    ('__this__', 'something'),
    ('__This__', 'when'),
    (' ', 'this'),
    ('.', 'is'),
    ('__', 'different')
]

for old, new in replacements:
    stuff = re.sub(old, new, stuff)

stuff = stuff.capitalize()

Note that when you want to replace a literal . character you have to use '\.' instead of '.'.

user_46215130 
tuple = (('__this__', 'something'),('__This__', 'when'),(' ', 'this'),('.', 'is'),('__', 'different'))

for element in tuple:
    stuff = re.sub(element[0], element[1], stuff)
user_62587910
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