Count string with the first character match

Question

Looking for a way to count the string who have "#" as first character.

import re

def y():
    with open('test.conf', 'r') as rf:
    hitcount = 0
        for line in rf:
            if re.search(r'#*', line):
            hit_count = hit_count + 1
    print(hit_count)

when I used the script...it count all the string who have #, wherever it was place.

Below are the test.conf. The result should be only 4.

#config-version=FWF60C-5.02-FW-build754-170421:opmode=0:vdom=0:user=lorenzo.aspera
#conf_file_ver=42514
#buildno=0754
#global_vdom=1
config sy###stem global
   END####

Hi, can you please clarify why you've accepted an answer that does not answer your question? You're trying to count lines that begin with a pound sign, not words. Or else, you'd not get 4 like you expect. Please take another look at the answers. — cs95
– cs95, Commented Apr 21, 2018 at 7:26
Just want to count who start with "#", i'm not familiar with "startwith". Thank you for your response. — DaShield
– DaShield, Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 5:03

cs95 · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-21 04:02:46Z

Yeah, you shouldn't be using re.search... actually, you shouldn't be using re AT ALL. Why not just str.startswith?

count = 0
with open('test.conf', 'r') as rf:
    for line in rf:
        if line.startswith('#'):
            count += 1

print(count)
4

If you're hell bent on using regex, then, use re.match instead, that anchors searches to the start of the string (re.search does not - unless you use the SOL anchor ^ inside your pattern - that's why you were observing spurious counts).

Alternatively, I like conciseness (but not at the cost of readability of course), so I'd go for sum with a comprehension.

with open('test.conf', 'r') as rf:
    count = sum(line.startswith('#') for line in rf)

print(count)
4

alkaliexce · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-21 04:14:39Z

0

Your approach and your description of the problem seems slightly different.

To clarify, which of the bottom 2 options is what you want?

find any lines with # before it
find any words with # before it?

if its (1), I believe that coldspeed's answer will serve the purpose.

if its (2), then the steps are as follows:

Load file and delimit whitespaces and newlines:

words = open(file).read().split()

Check through each word for #

count=0
for (i in words): 
    if(i.startswith("#")):
        count+=1
print(count)

answered Apr 21, 2018 at 4:14

alkaliexce

353 bronze badges

1 Comment

cs95 Over a year ago

Besides that, there's a lot wrong with this answer. Please don't encourage opening files without explicitly closing them or using context managers. Also, please don't put parentheses where necessary.

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