Python Coding challenge - Day 429| What is the output of the following Python Code?

 

import re

This imports Python's re module, which handles regular expressions.

Regular expressions (regex) let you search, match, and extract patterns from strings.

m = re.search(r"<.*>", "<a><b>")

This is the key line. Let's break it down:

re.search(pattern, string)

Searches the string for the first match of the given regex pattern.

If it finds a match, it returns a Match object (stored in m).

If no match is found, it returns None.

r"<.*>"

This is the regex pattern used to search.

The r before the string means it's a raw string, so backslashes like \n or \t are treated as literal characters (not escapes).

Let’s decode the pattern:

Pattern Meaning

< Match the literal < character

.* Match any characters (.) zero or more times (*) — greedy

> Match the literal > character

So the pattern <.*> matches:

A substring that starts with <

Ends with >

And contains anything in between, matching as much as possible (greedy).

Input string: "<a><b>"

Regex matches:

Start at the first < (which is <a>)

Then .* grabs everything, including the ><b>, until the last > in the string

So it matches:

<a><b>

print(m.group())

m is the Match object from re.search.

.group() gives you the actual string that matched the pattern.

In this case, the matched part is:

<a><b>

Final Output:

<a><b>