Convert string to desired format using python

Question

I want to substitute the following:

 default by <http://www.mycompany.com/>
 db: by <http://www.mydbcompany.com/>

I have data of the following format:

   <a> <b> <c>.
   <d> db:connect <e>.
   db:start <f> <g>.
   <h> <i> "hello".

Now I want to transform this data into the following form:

   <http://www.mycompany.com/a> <http://www.mycompany.com/b> <http://www.mycompany.com/c>.
   <http://www.mycompany.com/d> <http://www.mydbcompany.com/connect> <http://www.mycompany.com/e>.
   <http://www.mydbcompany.com/start> <http://www.mycompany.com/f> <http://www.mycompany.com/g>.
   <http://www.mycompany.com/h> <http://www.mycompany.com/i> "hello".

Now the way I am trying to achieve the desired format is to separate to break each line by using:

line1=re.split('(?<=)\s+(?=<)',line)

and then for line1[0], line1[1], line1[2] I try to

substitute < by <http://www.mycompany.com/

However, my problem is that this approach does not work for db: and quotes. Is there some way by which I may achieve the desired output in python

Veedrac · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-28 20:43:35Z

Why not re.sub?

S = """\
<a> <b> <c>.
<d> db:connect <e>.
db:start <f> <g>.
<h> <i> "hello".
"""

import re

expand_tags = re.sub(r"<(.*?)>", r"<http://www.mycompany.com/\1>", S)
expand_db = re.sub(r"db:(.*?)\s", r"<http://www.mydbcompany.com/\1>", expand_tags)

print(expand_db)
#>>> <http://www.mycompany.com/a> <http://www.mycompany.com/b> <http://www.mycompany.com/c>.
#>>> <http://www.mycompany.com/d> <http://www.mydbcompany.com/connect><http://www.mycompany.com/e>.
#>>> <http://www.mydbcompany.com/start><http://www.mycompany.com/f> <http://www.mycompany.com/g>.
#>>> <http://www.mycompany.com/h> <http://www.mycompany.com/i> "hello".

The \1 in the second part means whatever was inside the brackets in the first part, so you can match the pattern and put it in the replacement. It seems like an odd thing to do, though, so you might want to reconsider the whole design.

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