grep variable in python

Question

I need something like grep in python I have done research and found the re module to be suitable I need to search variables for a specific string

Answer 1

To search for a specific string within a variable, you can just use in:

>>> 'foo' in 'foobar'
True
>>> s = 'foobar'
>>> 'foo' in s
True
>>> 'baz' in s
False

Answer 2

Using re.findall will be the easiest way. You can search for just a literal string if that's what you're looking for (although your purpose would be better served by the string in operator and you'll need to escape regex characters), or else any string you would pass to grep (although I don't know the syntax differences between the two off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are differences).

>>> re.findall("x", "xyz")
['x']
>>> re.findall("b.d", "abcde")
['bcd']
>>> re.findall("a?ba?c", "abacbc")
['abac', 'bc']