Why doesn't this
re.search(r"\w??at", "cat")
match only "at"? Given the ? quantifier is set to lazy?
Actual result:
<re.Match object; span=(0, 3), match='cat'>
Expected result:
<re.Match object; span=(1, 3), match='at'>
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johk95
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1It does not matter if it is lazy or greedy, it matches 0 or 1 time, and since the regex engine parses the string from left to right, `\w?at` = `\w??at` – Wiktor Stribiżew Jan 13 '21 at 12:26
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1I think what you're trying to do is use a **look-behind**. not a lazy quantifier. – Tom Lord Jan 13 '21 at 12:26
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It's hard to understand what you need, if a whole word `at`, then use word boundaries, `r"\bat\b"` – Wiktor Stribiżew Jan 13 '21 at 12:37