From 71a0b43854164b6ada0026d90f241c987b54d019 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Zachary Ware Date: Wed, 11 Nov 2015 23:32:14 -0600 Subject: Rewrite re.VERBOSE section. It now has slightly better rationale and a less awkward wording in the explanation. Inspired by a report of a neither/or conflict by 'animalize' on docs@. --- Doc/library/re.rst | 16 +++++++++------- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-) diff --git a/Doc/library/re.rst b/Doc/library/re.rst index c3c8b65..cae6874 100644 --- a/Doc/library/re.rst +++ b/Doc/library/re.rst @@ -548,13 +548,15 @@ form. .. data:: X VERBOSE - This flag allows you to write regular expressions that look nicer. Whitespace - within the pattern is ignored, except when in a character class or preceded by - an unescaped backslash, and, when a line contains a ``'#'`` neither in a - character class or preceded by an unescaped backslash, all characters from the - leftmost such ``'#'`` through the end of the line are ignored. - - That means that the two following regular expression objects that match a + This flag allows you to write regular expressions that look nicer and are + more readable by allowing you to visually separate logical sections of the + pattern and add comments. Whitespace within the pattern is ignored, except + when in a character class or when preceded by an unescaped backslash. + When a line contains a ``#`` that is not in a character class and is not + preceded by an unescaped backslash, all characters from the leftmost such + ``#`` through the end of the line are ignored. + + This means that the two following regular expression objects that match a decimal number are functionally equal:: a = re.compile(r"""\d + # the integral part -- cgit v0.12