python regex - matching names with findall()

Asked Oct 13 '17 at 14:01

Active Oct 13 '17 at 14:02

Viewed 27 times

I am trying to extract all instances of last names in a text, but the following expression is only getting me Mr. Mrs. or Miss without the name after it. What is wrong with my python regex?

surnames = re.findall(r'(Mrs\. |Mr\. |Miss )[A-Z][a-z]+', text.read())

returns:

['Mr. ', 'Mr. ', 'Mrs. ', 'Mr. ',.....

edited Oct 13 '17 at 14:02

asked Oct 13 '17 at 14:01

Alexander Wisowaty

`r'(?:Mrs\. |Mr\. |Miss )[A-Z][a-z]+'` – Wiktor Stribiżew Oct 13 '17 at 14:02
thanks that fixed it - what does ?: do? – Alexander Wisowaty Oct 13 '17 at 14:10
With negative lookahead shall works... (?!Mrs\. |Mr\. |Miss )[A-Z][a-z]+ – Jesus Peralta Oct 13 '17 at 14:35

python regex - matching names with findall()

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