Recursive regexp in python?

Question

I have string:

acd (e(fg)h) ij)

I need to delete text within opened and coresponding closed bracket. So in example I need to delete

(e(fg)h)

In result I want to have

acd del ij)

I try to use next code:

re.sub(r'\((((?>[^()]+)|(?R))*)\)', r'del', 'acd (e(fg)h) ij)')

But python say:

sre_constants.error: unexpected end of pattern

Python does not support recursive regex. You might want to look into the [regex](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/regex) module to access recursive regex (and some other regex syntax currently not supported by the re module). — Jerry, Apr 20 '14 at 14:59
[This](http://stackoverflow.com/a/12280660/2235132) might help. — devnull, Apr 20 '14 at 15:00

Ivan Borshchov · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-21T11:41:54.497

3

Thanks Jerry and devnull! regex module for python instead of default re module solved my issue

import regex
>>> regex.sub(r'\((((?>[^()]+)|(?R))*)\)', r'del', 'acd (e(fg)h) ij)')
'acd del ij)'

edited Apr 21 '14 at 11:41

answered Apr 20 '14 at 15:16

Ivan Borshchov

1 Answers1