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Blog  Python Regex

Python Regex Testing: A

Comprehensive Guide With
Examples
August 4, 2023

Siddharth

 4 mins read

Introduction:  ON THIS PAGE

Within the realm of automation testing, accuracy and effectiveness stand as vital pillars.  Introduction:
Regular Expressions, often abbreviated as regex, emerges as a formidable instrument
 Understanding Python Regex
capable of elevating your testing toolkit to new heights.
 How To Do Python Regex Testing ?
This blog embarks on a journey into the domain of Python regex testing, illuminating its
significance in various automation scenarios. Through hands-on examples, we will unveil its  Python Libraries For Regex Testing:
practical application, complemented by key libraries that streamline and empower the
 Conclusion
process

Understanding Python Regex

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At its core, regex is a sequence of characters that forms a search pattern. It is used for string
matching, manipulation, and validation. Python offers a built-in re module that empowers
developers to harness the capabilities of regex. In automation testing, regex is particularly
valuable for tasks like input validation, log analysis, and data extraction.

Python Regex Components

Python regex components are the building blocks that empower developers to perform
powerful string manipulations and pattern matching. These components, when combined
strategically, offer a versatile toolkit for various automation testing tasks. Here’s a breakdown
of these components:

1. Anchors (^ and $):

Define the start and end positions of a match within a string.
2. Character Classes ([ ]):
Specify sets of characters that can match at a certain position, including ranges and
predefined classes.
3. Quantifiers (*, +, ?, { }):
Determine the number of occurrences of a character or group, from zero to specific
ranges.
4. Escape Sequences (\):
Match special characters literally, ensuring accurate pattern matching.
5. Alternation (|):
Select from multiple alternatives, allowing flexible pattern choices.
6. Groups and Capturing (( )):
Create subexpressions for complex patterns and capture matched text portions.
7. Character Escapes (\d, \w, \s, etc.):
Shortcut character classes for digits, word characters, whitespace, and more.
8. Lazy Matching (*?, +?, ??, { }?):
Perform minimal matches, useful for avoiding overly greedy patterns.
9. Assertions ((?= ) and (?! )):
Enforce conditions on the patterns that follow or don’t follow the current position.
10. Backreferences (\1, \2, etc.):
Reference and match previously captured groups within the pattern.
11. Flags (re.IGNORECASE, re.DOTALL, etc.):
Modify regex behavior, such as making matches case-insensitive or matching newlines.

Mastering these Python regex components empowers automation testers with the ability to
efficiently validate inputs, parse logs, and manipulate strings, ultimately enhancing the
precision and effectiveness of automation testing processes.

How To Do Python Regex Testing ?

Performing Python regex testing involves a systematic process to validate and manipulate
strings based on specific patterns. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you conduct regex
testing effectively:

Step 1: Import the re Module To use regex in Python, you need to import the built-in re
module:

import re

Step 2: Define the Regex Pattern Identify the pattern you want to match or search for within
a string. Regular expressions are written as strings, so define your regex pattern accordingly.

Recommended Read: python selenium tutorial

Step 3: Choose the Appropriate Function Depending on your objective, choose the
appropriate re function to match, search, or replace patterns in the text.

re.match(): Checks if the pattern matches at the beginning of the string.

re.search(): Searches the entire string for a match.
re.findall(): Finds all occurrences of the pattern in the string.
re.finditer(): Returns an iterator of match objects for all occurrences.
re.sub(): Substitutes the pattern with a replacement string.

Step 4: Apply the Regex Function Use the chosen re function along with the regex pattern
and the target string to perform the operation. Capture the result in a variable if needed.

Step 5: Process the Results Process the results based on the function you used:

For re.match(), re.search(), and re.finditer(), work with the returned match object to access
matched text and groups.
For re.findall(), you get a list of matched substrings.
For re.sub(), the function replaces matches with the specified replacement.

Example: Validating Email Addresses

Let’s say you want to validate if an email address follows a standard format:

import re

email_pattern = r‘^[\w\.-]+@[\w\.-]+\.\w+$’
email = “sid@example.com”

if re.match(email_pattern, email):
print(“Valid email address”)
else:
print(“Invalid email address”)

Example: Extracting URLs

If you want to extract URLs from a text, use re.findall():

import re

text = “Visit my website at https://www.qatouch.com and learn more.”

url_pattern = r‘https?://\S+’

urls = re.findall(url_pattern, text)

print(urls)

Example: Validating And Extracting Phone Numbers

Imagine you’re working on a form where users enter their phone numbers. You want to
validate that the phone numbers are in a valid format and extract them for further
processing. Here’s how you can achieve this using Python regex:

import re

# Sample text with phone numbers

text = “Contact us at 123-456-7890 or 9876543210 for assistance.”

# Define the regex pattern for phone numbers

phone_pattern = r‘\b\d{3}-\d{3}-\d{4}\b|\b\d{10}\b’

# Find all matches using re.findall()

phone_numbers = re.findall(phone_pattern, text)

# Validate and print the extracted phone numbers

for phone in phone_numbers:
print(f“Valid phone number: {phone}”)

In this example, the phone_pattern regex is designed to match phone numbers in two
formats: ###-###-#### and ##########, where # represents a digit. The \b word boundary
ensures that the pattern matches complete phone numbers.

The re.findall() function extracts all matched phone numbers from the text, and the loop
validates and prints the extracted phone numbers.

Python Libraries For Regex Testing:

1. re (Built-in Library):
Python’s built-in re-library provides essential regex functionality. Documentation
2. regex (Third-party Library):
The regex library enhances Python’s regex capabilities, offering advanced features like
look behind and lookahead assertions. Documentation
3. PyTest:
PyTest, a popular testing framework, supports regex-based assertions, allowing you to
easily validate strings and patterns. Documentation
4. Behave:
For Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) enthusiasts, the Behave framework supports
regex-based step definitions for more expressive and readable tests. Documentation

Conclusion
Python regex testing is a useful ability that can greatly improve your efforts at automation
testing. Regex offers a flexible and effective solution for everything from data validation to log
parsing. You may develop more reliable and efficient automation tests by becoming an
expert in Python regex and utilizing tools like re and regex. So go into the world of regex to
bring your automation testing to a new level of accuracy!

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