On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 3:32 PM, mhearne808[insert-at-sign-here]gmail[insert-dot-here]com <mhearne...@gmail.com> wrote: > Here's a scenario: > > import re > m = re.search('e','fredbarneybettywilma') > > Now, here's a stupid question: > why doesn't m.groups() return ('e','e','e'). > > I'm trying to figure out how to match ALL of the instances of a > pattern in one call - the group() and groups() return subgroups... how > do I get my search to get me all of the matching subgroups?
m.groups() doesn't give return ('e','e','e') because groups don't mean what you think they mean. Groups are subsections of a regular expression, enclosed by parenthesis. For example: >>> m = re.search('(e)','fredbarneybettywilma') >>> m.groups() ('e',) What you want seem to want is re.findall, not re.search -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list