_sre.py is a reimplementation of CPython's core regular expression engine, the _sre extension module. It's written in pure Python to allow for easier experimentation and to benefit alternative Python implementations that can't use C modules like the standard _sre. This was originally written for use by PyPy.
This version is compatible with _sre from CPython 2.3 and 2.4. Yes, this is by now quite outdated. Things will probably not work in expected ways for any version of CPython 2.5 or higher.
To check for general compliance with your version of Python run the unit tests with
$ python run_tests.py
on your shell.
To install _sre.py as a library on your system execute:
$ python setup.py install
This does not override the standard _sre module of your Python installation. If you want to use _sre.py instead of the standard module in a Python program, you have to explicitly load it by inserting these lines in your Python code before any imports of the re module:
import _sre_support
_sre_support.import_sre_py()
Release 2.4a, 7/25/2005:
- initial fully compliant alpha release
Release 2.4b, 8/9/2005:
- implemented some substantial optimizations
Release 2.4c, 8/30/2005:
- fixed bug related to the definition of a unicode word character
- added timing script
- postscript 3/5/2012: republished code and binary on GitHub
Copyright (c) 2005 by Nik Haldimann. It comes with a MIT-style license. See the LICENSE.txt file for details.