Python Regular Expression: Search vs Match

The built-in Python module re provides re.search() and re.match(), which are powerful regular expression functions. They are commonly used functions for finding patterns in strings, but they behave differently.

The re.search() Function

The re.search() function checks the entire string for a match. It will return the first match it finds in the string, not just at the beginning. This is helpful when the pattern might appear in the middle or end of the string. If it finds a match, it returns a Match object; if not, it returns None.

Example

In the following example re.search() function looks through the whole string and finds "Python" in the middle and returns a match.

import re
text = "Welcome to Python programming"
result = re.search("Python", text)

if result:
    print("Match found!")
else:
    print("No match.")

Following is the output of the above code ?

Match found!

The re.match() Function

The re.match() attempts to match a regular expression (regex) pattern only at the beginning of a string. If the specified pattern is found right at the start, it returns a match object. If the pattern appears later in the string or not at all, it returns None.

Example

In the following example re.match() function checks the start of the string. Since "Welcome" is at the beginning, it returns a match. If we try to match "Python", it will return None.

import re
text = "Welcome to Python programming"
result = re.match("Welcome", text)

if result:
    print("Match found!")
else:
    print("No match.")

Following is the output of the above code ?

Match found!

Key Difference Between search and match Functions

The following are the common differences between re.match() and re.search() functions.