Unexpected Result in Regex

Question

pattern = r'[ -\\[\\]]'
regex = re.compile(pattern)
name = '123[ shiv'
new_name = regex.sub('_',name)

gives result(new_name) ::

'_____shiv'

instead of::

'123__shiv'

..thanx in advance

Answer 1

Your regex is creating a range from whitespace (ASCII Code - 32) to opening bracket - [(ASCII Code - 91) because of that - in between. And that range includes the numbers 0 to 9 (ASCII Code - 48 to 57).

You need to change your regex to: -

pattern = '[- \\[\\]]'

Moved - at the beginning.