Split a date string on a variable character

[Neshotah]

I need to search characters inside a date string so that I can split the string.

date = '02/03/2010'

The date separators could be ('/', ' ', '-', '.')

[bvdet]

>>> possible_characters = ('/', ' ', '-', '.')
>>> date = '02/03/2010'
>>> re.split("[%s]" % ("".join(possible_characters)), date)
['02', '03', '2010']
>>>

[Neshotah]

error

The original result is what I'm looking for, especially if it works no which mix of characters separates the date in the original string. ie. date = '02/03-2010'


>>> findChar = ('/',' ','-','.',',')
>>> date = '02/03/2010'
>>> re.split("[%s]" % ("".join(findCh ar)),date)

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#1 5>", line 1, in <module>
re.split("[%s]" % ("".join(findCh ar)),date)
NameError: name 're' is not defined


changed re to date
>>> date.split('[%s]' % (''.join(findCh ar)),date)

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<pyshell#3 2>", line 1, in <module>
date.split('[%s]' % (''.join(findCh ar)),date)
TypeError: an integer is required

[bvdet]

I left out a critical line of code:

import re

Module re is not built-in.

[Neshotah]

Thanks for the help, it's working perfectly. Could you explain the details of the re.split line of code? I understand about half of what is going on. I read the help(re), but am still scratching my head wondering how it works.

Thanks

[Neshotah]

Is it possible to use ',' as one of the date separators?
When I add the comma to my list of separators I get an error. Without the comma in the list the program works fine. If I run the dateParts lines from the python shell it separates the comma just fine.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "F:\CSIS 152\project 9\David Peterson ex7_11.py", line 112, in <module>
today = Date(date)
File "F:\CSIS 152\project 9\David Peterson ex7_11.py", line 20, in __init__
self._date = self.convertDat e() #convert the date to the proper format
File "F:\CSIS 152\project 9\David Peterson ex7_11.py", line 31, in convertDate
parts = self.dateParts( )
File "F:\CSIS 152\project 9\David Peterson ex7_11.py", line 40, in dateParts
dateParts = re.split("[%s]" % (''.join(separa tors)),self._da te) #import re for this command to work
File "C:\Python27\li b\re.py", line 167, in split
return _compile(patter n, flags).split(st ring, maxsplit)
File "C:\Python27\li b\re.py", line 245, in _compile
raise error, v # invalid expression
error: bad character range

class Date:
    """Class for storing dates"""

    MONTHNAMES = ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April',
    'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', 'October',
    'November', 'December']

    MONTHLENGTHS = ['31', '28', '31', '30', '31', '30', '31', '31', '30', '31', '30', '31']
    
    def __init__(self, date):
        '''Constructor'''
        self._date = date
        self._date = self.convertDate() #convert the date to the proper format
                
    def __str__(self):
        '''Display the date in Month XX, YYYY format'''
        #pass
        return self._date


    def convertDate(self):
        '''Converts the given date into format Month XX, YYYY format'''
        #pass
        parts = self.dateParts()
        if not parts[0] in Date.MONTHNAMES:
            parts[0] = Date.MONTHNAMES[int(parts[0])-1]
        date = parts[0] + ' ' + parts[1] + ', ' + parts[2]
        return date

    def dateParts(self):
        '''Separates the date into parts: month, day, and year.'''
        separators = ('/', ' ', '.', '-', ',')
        dateParts = re.split("[%s]" % (''.join(separators)),self._date) #import re for this command to work
        return dateParts

[bvdet]

The re module is used to perform regular-expression pattern matching and replacement in strings. Instead of me trying to explain further, look at this tutorial.

Reordering the separators seems to work. I don't know why.

Remember to use code tags!

separators = (',', '/', ' ', '.', '-')