Python Search & Replace With Regex

Question

I am trying to replace every occurrence of a Regex expression in a file using Python with this code:

import re

def cleanString(string):
    string = string.replace(" ", "_")
    string = string.replace('_"', "")
    string = string.replace('"', '')
    return string

test = open('test.t.txt', "w+")
test = re.sub(r':([\"])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1', cleanString(r':([\"])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1'), test)

However, when I run the script I am getting the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/Python27/test.py", line 10, in <module>
    test = re.sub(r':([\"])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1', cleanString(r':([\"])(?:(?=(\\?))\2.)*?\1'), test)
  File "C:\Python27\lib\re.py", line 155, in sub
    return _compile(pattern, flags).sub(repl, string, count)
TypeError: expected string or buffer

I think it is reading the file incorrectly but I'm not sure what the actual issue is here

I am sorry, but I can't really get what you are trying to do. What does your input file look like, and what should it look like after a successful conversion? — Finwood
– Finwood, Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 20:42
the input file is a sql statement where a bunch of variables need to be changed from the format :"this is a variable" to :this_is_a_variable so i'm trying to replace the spaces and remove the quotes from any strings that follow the pattern :"*" — yhussain
– yhussain, Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 21:08

Alexandru Chirila · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-08 18:12:19Z

1

Your cleanString function is not returning anything. Ergo the "NoneType" error.

You probably want to do something like:

def cleanString(string):
    string = string.replace(" ", "_")
    string = string.replace('_"', "")
    string = string.replace('"', '')
    return string

answered Apr 8, 2015 at 18:12

Alexandru Chirila

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