Regex match words Python

Regex match words Python

This regular expression can be used to validate that a given string contains only characters in it or extract two words from a given string.

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JavaScript
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Python
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Java
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Simple word match

The regular expression to match only words looks like this (including compound words):

"^\\b(?:\\w|-)+\\b$"

Test it!
/^\b(?:\w|-)+\b$/

True

False

Enter a text in the input above to see the result

Example code in Python:

# Validate words
words_pattern = "^\\b(?:\\w|-)+\\b$"
re.match(words_pattern, 'word') # Returns Match object
re.match(words_pattern, 'pet-friendly') # Returns Match object
re.match(words_pattern, 'not a word') # Returns None

# Extract words from a string
words_extract_pattern = "\\b(?:\\w|-)+\\b"
re.findall(words_extract_pattern, 'Hello, world!') # returns ['Hello', 'world']
Test it!

True

False

Enter a text in the input above to see the result

Test it!

True

False

Enter a text in the input above to see the result