[triangle-zpug] how to match strings in python

[Josh Johnson]

Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:
> I've looked in the string methods/functions in the python docs and I 
> can't see how to do what I want, which is to find the parts of strings 
> that match. eg
>
>
> string_1 = "foobar"
> string_2 = "foobaz"
>
> matched_string = "fooba"
>
> I need to walk along the string(s) 1 char at a time, accepting 
> matching letters, till I get a mismatch, when the code exits. I was 
> expecting to be able to retrieve chars one at a time from each of the 
> two strings and test if the chars were the same.
>
> How do I do this in python?
>
> Thanks Joe
>
you can loop over a string like a list, like this:

for c in string1:
     for m in matched string:
          if c != m:
              break

(untested, but the general idea)

Have you seen the 're' module? What you're talking about is basically 
what regular expressions do in the background :)

JJ