New to using re. Search for a number before a string.

Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Date	2013-11-01 14:33 -0700
Message-ID	<f241bc01-d10a-433f-b3af-b22d05a603d8@googlegroups.com> (permalink)
Subject	New to using re. Search for a number before a string.
From	Captain Dunsel <jonathan.nyquist@gmail.com>

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I have a text file that has lines with numbers occasionally appearing right before a person's name.  For example:

COLLEGE:ENROLLMENT:COMPLETED EVALUATIONS:624309FUDD, ELMER

where I want to search for the name "ELMER FUDD" and extract the number right in front of it "608309" when such a number appears but the length of the number is variable and using ?<= in a regular expression will only search for a fixed length.

Any ideas appreciated!

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New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Captain Dunsel <jonathan.nyquist@gmail.com> - 2013-11-01 14:33 -0700
  Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. MRAB <python@mrabarnett.plus.com> - 2013-11-01 21:40 +0000
  Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Jussi Piitulainen <jpiitula@ling.helsinki.fi> - 2013-11-02 09:06 +0200
  Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Justin Barber <jbarber@iliff.edu> - 2013-11-02 06:03 -0700
  Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-02 13:31 +0000
  Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Captain Dunsel <jonathan.nyquist@gmail.com> - 2013-11-02 17:19 -0700
    Re: New to using re.   Search for a number before a string. Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-03 00:27 +0000

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