In Python's regular expressions module, the group() method is used to retrieve the matched substring from a regular expression search. When a regular expression pattern matches a string, the group() method returns the portion of the string that matches the pattern.
The group() method is typically used in conjunction with the search() or match() methods of the re module. Here's a brief explanation of how it works:
re.search(pattern, string): This function searches for a match of the pattern anywhere in the string. If a match is found, it returns a match object.
match_object.group(): Once you have a match object, you can use the group() method to retrieve the actual matched substring.
Here's an example to illustrate its usage:
import re
string = "Hello, my name is John Doe"
pattern = r"(\b\w+\b)"
match_object = re.search(pattern, string)
if match_object:
matched_string = match_object.group()
print(matched_string) # Output: "Hello"
In this example, the regular expression pattern (\b\w+\b) matches a word in the given string. The group() method retrieves the matched substring "Hello" from the match_object, which is then printed.
You can also specify a group number as an argument to group() if your pattern contains multiple groups. For example, match_object.group(1) would return the first captured group.
Note that if there are no capturing groups in the pattern, group() with no arguments returns the entire match.