# coding=utf8
# the above tag defines encoding for this document and is for Python 2.x compatibility
import re
regex = r"""
(?: # Non capturing group 1
\G # Matches where the regex engine stops in the previous step
(\w+) # capture group 1: a regex word of 1+ chars
\h* # zero or more horizontal spaces (space, tabs)
(?: # Non capturing group 2
=\h* # literal '=' follower by zero or more hspaces
(\w+) # capture group 2: a regex word of 1+ chars
)? # make the non capturing group 2 optional
)+ # repeat the non capturing group 1, one or more
"""
test_str = "Key name = value"
subst = "\\1\\2"
# You can manually specify the number of replacements by changing the 4th argument
result = re.sub(regex, subst, test_str, 0, re.VERBOSE)
if result:
print (result)
# Note: for Python 2.7 compatibility, use ur"" to prefix the regex and u"" to prefix the test string and substitution.
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Python, please visit: https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html