Removing strings character with given input

Question

I need to remove a certain string with the given input. For example,

user_input = input("Input File name: ")

and the user key in "patient_zero[20150203].txt" and it would like to clean up the file name by removing all instances of square brackets and the contents contained within it.

Output should be "patient_zero.txt". Is there anyway to do it?

Does this answer your question? [Python regular expression to remove all square brackets and their contents](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42324466/python-regular-expression-to-remove-all-square-brackets-and-their-contents) — Maurice Meyer, Apr 14 '21 at 15:34
@MauriceMeyer Maybe not, if the OP only wants to target square brackets occurring within the filename itself (but not elsewhere in the input). — Tim Biegeleisen, Apr 14 '21 at 15:36

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 14 '21 at 15:34

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If you just want to remove the square bracket portion of the filename, you could use:

inp = "patient_zero[20150203].txt"
output = re.sub(r'^(\S+)\[.*?\]\.(\S+)$', r'\1.\2', inp)
print(output)  # patient_zero.txt

answered Apr 14 '21 at 15:34

Tim Biegeleisen

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may I know what method is this? – Ng Leng Poh Apr 14 '21 at 15:39
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@NgLengPoh I'm using a regular expression replacement with `re.sub`. Regex is suitable for what you are trying to achieve. We could also do it more simply by removing all square brackets everywhere, but it might not be what you want. – Tim Biegeleisen Apr 14 '21 at 15:39
I tried and it says that "re" is not defined. – Ng Leng Poh Apr 14 '21 at 15:40
You must import the module at the beginning of your code: `import re` – wagnifico Apr 14 '21 at 15:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 14 '21 at 15:42

0

using spplit

var = "patient_zero[20150203].txt"
print(var.split("[")[0] + var.split("]")[1]) # PatientName + FileFormat

answered Apr 14 '21 at 15:42

Anmol Parida

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it works but may I know how does it work? – Ng Leng Poh Apr 14 '21 at 16:03
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@NgLengPoh This is fundamental String operation. ```split```. Taking out everything before [ and concatenating everything after ] (in case different fie format other than .txt) – Anmol Parida Apr 14 '21 at 16:07
what does [0] and [1] mean? – Ng Leng Poh Apr 14 '21 at 16:24
indexes, start exploring the split concept. – Anmol Parida Apr 14 '21 at 16:26

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 14 '21 at 16:25

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import re

s = "patient_zero[20150203].txt"

print (re.sub(r'\[[\w\s]+\]','',s))

Output:

patient_zero.txt

answered Apr 14 '21 at 16:25

Synthase

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Removing strings character with given input

3 Answers3