Regular Expression: Match to (aa|bb) (cc)?

Answer 1

You need to escape the special characters (like +). Also the 'express' bit, should have a space on either side.

Answer 2

In the case without an Express, you are looking for 2 spaces before the year. That is no good. Try this:

"Visual (Basic|C\+\+|Studio) (Express )?2008"

Depending on the input, it might be enough to use:

"Visual [^ ]+ (Express )?2008"

Answer 3

Try this: "Visual (Basic|C\+\+|Studio) (Express )?2008"

Answer 4

It should be

"Visual (Basic|C\+\+|Studio)( Express)? 2008"

>>> import re
>>> repl = 'Visual Studio 2005'
>>> regexp = re.compile('Visual (Studio|Basic|C\+\+)( Express)? 2008')
>>> test1 = 'Visual Studio 2008'
>>> test2 = 'Visual Studio Express 2008'
>>> test3 = 'Visual C++ Express 2008'
>>> test4 = 'Visual C++ Express 1008'
>>> re.sub(regexp,repl,test1)
'Visual Studio 2005'
>>> re.sub(regexp,repl,test2)
'Visual Studio 2005'
>>> re.sub(regexp,repl,test3)
'Visual Studio 2005'
>>> re.sub(regexp,repl,test4)
'Visual C++ Express 1008'

Answer 5

Try with:

Visual (Basic|C\+\+|Studio)( Express)? 2008

that is, quote the '+' of 'C++' and include the space in "Express"

Since it's Python and you don't need the parenthesized parts:

Visual (?:Basic|C\+\+|Studio)(?: Express)? 2008

Answer 6

This is more explicit with spaces:

Visual\s(Basic|C\+\+|Studio)(\sExpress)?\s2008

Answer 7

Unless your sample input is riddled with all sorts of permutations of your keywords, you could simplify it immensely with this:

Visual .+? 2008

Answer 8

i think this should works

/visual (studio|basic|c\+\+)? (express)?\s?2008/i