Named regular expression group “(?P<group_name>regexp)”: what does “P” stand for?

Question

In Python, I came to know that the (?P<group_name>…) syntax allows us to refer to the matched string through its name:

>>> import re

>>> match = re.search('(?P<name>.*) (?P<phone>.*)', 'John 123456')

>>> match.group('name')

'John'

What does that "P" mean in the syntax? 

Answer 1

That P in the syntax is for the Pattern! The association names a (sub)pattern for succeeding use in the regex. Everything is a pattern, though, in a regexp.

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