Search tkinter text widget contents using regular expression

Question

In tkinter text widget , how to search for a whole word. I tried to use the following syntax, but it didn't match anything although the word already exists:

index = self.text.search(r'\b%s\b' % myWord, INSERT, backwards=True, regexp=True)

Any hints?

Answer 1

The regular expression specified is interpreted by tcl , not by python .

Tcl use different syntax for word boundary: \\y instead of \\b . (See Word boundaries , especially Tcl Word Boundaries part.)

The line should be replaced with:

index = self.text.search(r'\y%s\y' % myWord, INSERT, backwards=True, regexp=True)