regular expression for shortest match in Python 2.7

Question

I am using Python 2.7. The current code returns hello }{(2) world. If I only want the shortest match, in this case hello, what is the solution in Python 2.7?

import re

content = '{(1) hello }{(2) world}'
reg = '{\(1\)(.*)}'
results = re.findall(reg, content)
print results[0]

Answer 1

Make the wildcard match non-greedy:

>>> reg = r'{\(1\)(.*?)}'
# this ? is important^
>>> results = re.findall(reg, content)
>>> print results[0]
 hello 

Answer 2

For this kind of situation negated character class will also help you.

reg = r'{\(1\)([^}]*)}'

results = re.findall(reg, content)

print results[0]