Insert newline before 5 digits using regex in python

Question

I have the following problem: I have a .txt file which contains information in the following scheme:

ddddd name country time dddd name country time

The ddddd stands for 5 digits, representing the ID number of the participant. With available information I have come so far:

filename = 'raw_race.txt'
new_filename = 'data_race.txt'

pattern = re.compile(r'\D(\d{5})\D')

with open(filename, 'r') as readfile, open(new_filename, 'w+') as writefile:
    for line in readfile:
        writefile.write(line)
        if pattern.search(line):
            writefile.write('\n')

This does not work (output file is the same as input) and also, this would add the paragraph after the pattern, not before.

Does anyone see what I can do? Cheers!

Answer 1

for line in readfile:
    writefile.write(re.sub(r'\b(\d{5})\b', '\n\\1', line))

did the trick, thank you!