Python == Perl when it comes to regex’s

A friend of mine is learning python and commented how he thought it was a better programming language but perl’s regex’s were better and so was better suited to scripting. I had to set him straight so I wrote a simple script in perl and python to parse telephone numbers.

Sample data:

• (206) 329-1173
• 206.329.1173
• 206-329-1173
• 206 329-1173
• 329-1173
• 3291173

Python:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys,re

phonenumber = re.compile("\(?(\d{0,3})\)?[\.\-\s]?(\d{3})[\.\-\s]?(\d{4})")
for line in sys.stdin:
    matches = re.match(phonenumber, line)
    areacode = matches.group(1)
    prefix = matches.group(2)
    extension = matches.group(3)
    if areacode == "":
        print "Prefix = " + prefix + " Extension = " + extension
    else:
        print "Area code = " + areacode + " Prefix = " + prefix  + " Extension = " + extension

Perl:

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use warnings;
use strict;

while (<>) {
    my ($areacode, $prefix, $extension) = ( $_ =~ /\(?(\d{0,3})\)?[\.\-\s]?(\d{3})[\.\-\s]?(\d{4})/ );
    if ($areacode eq "") {
        print "Prefix = $prefix Extension = $extension\n";
    } else {
        print "Area code = $areacode Prefix = $prefix Extension = $extension\n";
    }
}

Both scripts produce the same output:

    Area code = 206 Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173
    Area code = 206 Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173
    Area code = 206 Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173
    Area code = 206 Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173
    Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173
    Prefix = 329 Extension = 1173

Both scripts uses the exact same regex. Python is just as powerful as Perl for regular expressions.