Regex to pull the first and last letter of a string

user_10296767 0
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I am using this \d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4} to validate my string. It works to pull the sequence of numbers out of said string resulting in 02-01-1716 however, i also need to pull the letter the string begins with and ends with; i.e. Q:\Region01s\FY 02\02-01-1716A.pdf i need the Q as well as the A so in the end i would have Q: 02-01-1716A

sequence python regex string
2 Answers

You can use

import re
regex = r"^([a-zA-Z]:)\\(?:.*\\)?(\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4}[a-zA-Z]?)"
text = r"Q:\Region01s\FY 02\02-01-1716A.pdf"
match = re.search(regex, text)
if match:
    print(f"{match.group(1)} {match.group(2)}")

# => Q: 02-01-1716A

See the Python demo. Also, see the regex demo. Details:

  • ^ - start of string
  • ([a-zA-Z]:) - Group 1: a letter and :
  • \\ - a backslash
  • (?:.*\\)? - an optional sequence of any chars other than line break chars as many as possible, followed with a backslash
  • (\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4}[a-zA-Z]?) - Group 2: two digits, -, two digits, -, four digits, an optional letter.

The output - if there is a match - is a concatenation of Group 1, space and Group 2 values.

user_38329700

You can try:

(.).*(.)\.[^\.]+$

Or with the validation:

(.).*\d{2}-\d{2}-\d{4}(.)\.[^\.]+$
user_163434640
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