Remove duplicate words using regex in Python

Question

I need to remove repetitive words in string so that 'the (the)' will become 'the'. Why can't I do it as follows?

re.sub('(.+) \(\1\)', '\1', 'the (the)')

Thanks.

jensgram · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 08:59:31Z

6

You need to doubly escape the back-reference:

re.sub('(.+) \(\\1\)', '\\1', 'the (the)')
--> the

Or use the r prefix:

When an "r" or "R" prefix is present, a character following a backslash is included in the string without change, and all backslashes are left in the string.

re.sub(r'(.+) \(\1\)', r'\1', 'the (the)')
--> the

edited Mar 22, 2011 at 8:59

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 8:54

jensgram

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1 Comment

jensgram Over a year ago

@eumiro Yup, I just had to find a link to the relevant documentation :)

eat · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-22 08:58:20Z

2

According to documentation: 'Raw string notation (r"text") keeps regular expressions sane.'

answered Mar 22, 2011 at 8:58

eat

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