Python Regex - Replacing Non-Alphanumeric Characters AND Spaces with Dash

Question

I am trying to replace all of the non-alphanumeric characters AND spaces in the following Python string with a dash - . I tried to use the below code, but it only replaced the non-alphanumeric characters with a dash - and not the spaces.

s = re.sub('[^0-9a-zA-Z]+', '-', s)

Original String: s = 'ABCDE: CE; CUSTOMER: Account Number; New Sales' s = 'ABCDE: CE; CUSTOMER: Account Number; New Sales'

How can Python regex be used to replace both the non-alphanumeric characters AND spaces with a dash - to get the following target outcome?

Target Outcome: s = 'ABCDE---CE---CUSTOMER---Account-Number--New-Sales'

Answer 1

You were very close . You just don't need the + , because then that would would replace multiple occurances with just one dash.

You need:

re.sub('[^0-9a-zA-Z]', '-', s)

Example :

import re

s = 'ABCDE : CE ; CUSTOMER : Account Number; New Sales'

print(re.sub('[^0-9a-zA-Z]', '-', s))
# ABCDE---CE---CUSTOMER---Account-Number--New-Sales

Answer 2

I see spaces translated properly, but your regexp should omit the +

import re
s = 'ABCDE : CE ; CUSTOMER : Account Number; New Sales'
re.sub('[^0-9a-zA-Z]+', '-', s)

I'm on my phone, but pasting that into https://repl.it/languages/python3 gives me

ABCDE-CE-CUSTOMER-Account-Number-New-Sales

as expected - spaces translated.

If you want the multiple - characters, lose the + in your regexp:

import re
s = 'ABCDE : CE ; CUSTOMER : Account Number; New Sales'
re.sub('[^0-9a-zA-Z]', '-', s)

Gives

ABCDE---CE---CUSTOMER---Account-Number--New-Sales

Answer 3

Without re :

• A str is an iterable, so a comprehension can be used on it.
• str.isalnum
• string methods

s = 'ABCDE : CE ; CUSTOMER : Account Number; New Sales'

''.join(x if x.isalnum() else '-' for x in s)

Output:

'ABCDE---CE---CUSTOMER---Account-Number--New-Sales'

Answer 4

import re
s='ABCDE : CE ; CUSTOMER : Account Number; New Sales'
s = re.sub(r'\W', '-', s)

Hope this helps.

Regards Aditya Shukla

Answer 5

You can use [\W_] :

import re
d = re.sub('[\W_]', '-', s)

Output:

'ABCDE---CE---CUSTOMER---Account-Number--New-Sales'