EBR - Easy Bracket Regex

EBR (Easy Bracket Regex) is a simplified pattern matching library that makes text extraction intuitive and readable. Instead of complex regex syntax, use simple bracket notation.

Features

• <|cap|> - Capture text between patterns
• <|ow|> - Match optional whitespace (zero or more spaces)
• <|any|> - Match any single character
• <|esc|X> - Match a specific character X literally

Installation

pip install ebr

Quick Start

from ebr import ebr, capture, capture_all

# Single capture
text = "Hello how are you"
result = ebr(text, "Hello how <|cap|> you")
print(result)  # Output: "are"

# Multiple captures
text = "Hello how are yall"
results = ebr(text, "<|cap|> how <|cap|>")
print(results)  # Output: ['Hello', 'are yall']

# Optional whitespace
text = "Hello            World"
result = capture(text, "Hello<|ow|><|cap|>")
print(result)  # Output: "World"

# Any character wildcard
text = "Hello:World"
result = capture(text, "Hello<|any|><|cap|>")
print(result)  # Output: "World"

# Escape special characters
text = "Hello*World"
result = capture(text, "Hello<|esc|*><|cap|>")
print(result)  # Output: "World"

API Reference

ebr(text: str, pattern: str) -> Union[str, List[str]]

Smart function that returns a single string for one capture group, or a list for multiple capture groups.

capture(text: str, pattern: str) -> str

Extracts the first capture group from text. Returns empty string if no match.

capture_all(text: str, pattern: str) -> List[str]

Extracts all capture groups from text. Returns empty list if no match.

Pattern Syntax

Examples

Extract data from structured text

from ebr import capture_all

log = "2024-01-15 10:30:45 ERROR User login failed"
parts = capture_all(log, "<|cap|> <|cap|> <|cap|> <|cap|>")
date, time, level, message = parts
print(f"Level: {level}, Message: {message}")

Parse key-value pairs

from ebr import capture

config = "timeout=30"
value = capture(config, "timeout<|ow|>=<|ow|><|cap|>")
print(f"Timeout: {value}")  # Output: "Timeout: 30"

Handle flexible spacing

from ebr import capture

text1 = "HelloWorld"
text2 = "Hello World"
text3 = "Hello            World"

pattern = "Hello<|ow|><|cap|>"
print(capture(text1, pattern))  # Output: "World"
print(capture(text2, pattern))  # Output: "World"
print(capture(text3, pattern))  # Output: "World"

Why EBR?

Traditional regex can be hard to read and write:

import re
result = re.search(r"Hello how (.+?) you", text).group(1)

EBR makes it intuitive:

result = ebr(text, "Hello how <|cap|> you")

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• C++17 compatible compiler
• setuptools

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details