Pattern matching and replacing based from regex

Question

I am trying to parse through a string and modify values that match a particular pattern. I am basically trying to convert the following R code into Python.

sample_formatted <- stringr::str_replace(sample, 
                      '(\\b[a-zA-Z]+):([a-zA-Z]\\b)', '\\1\\2')

I am completely new to Python regex and a struggling to figure out where to start. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

I guess then you can simply do a re.sub in Python:

import re

regex = r"(\b[a-zA-Z]+):([a-zA-Z]\b)"

test_str = ("abc:x\n"
    "DEf:y\n"
    "ABC:z")

subst = "\\1\\2"

result = re.sub(regex, subst, test_str)

if result:
    print (result)

The expression is explained on the top right panel of this demo if you wish to explore/simplify/modify it.

RegEx Circuit

jex.im visualizes regular expressions: