Regular expression to match words which does not start with particular charector in python using negative lookahead assertion

Question

In the string

s = 'Makeupby Antonia #makeup #makeupartist #makeupdolls #abhcosmetics'

I want to match only word which does not start with #. Means I want to select only Makeupby and Antonia
I tried using negative lookahead assertion

re.findall(r'\b(?![#])[a-zA-Z]+',s)  

['Makeupby',
 'Antonia',
 'makeup',
 'makeupartist',
 'makeupdolls',
 'abhcosmetics']

But this is matching with all words. Where I am wrong?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 02 '18 at 20:26

3

(?!) is syntax for a negative lookahead. You want a negative lookbehind.

try \b(?<!#)[a-zA-Z]+

Demo

edited Jul 02 '18 at 20:26

Brad Solomon

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answered Jul 02 '18 at 20:24

emsimpson92

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Regular expression to match words which does not start with particular charector in python using negative lookahead assertion

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