Question

I am writing a script to remove git commit tags (eg Signed-off-by:, Reviewed-by:) from each git commit message. Currently the script is in python. Right now I have a very simple re.match("Signed-off-by:", line) check. But I think there should be more elegant solution using regular expression.

I am assuming that a footer will begins with [more words separating by -]: For example

Bug:, Issue:, Reviewed-by:, Tested-by:, Ack-by:, Suggested-by:, Signed-off-by:

The pattern should ignore case. I need help coming up with a solution using regular expression for this. I also want to learn more about RE, what is a good starting point?

The actual python script is here https://gerrit-review.googlesource.com/#/c/33213/2/tools/gitlog2asciidoc.py

You could also comment on the script if you sign up for an account.

Thanks

Answer 1

>>> def match_commit(s):
    r = re.compile(r'((\w+*)+\w+:)')
    return re.match(r, s) is not None

>>> match_commit("Signed-off-by:")
True
>>> match_commit("Signed-off+by:")
False
>>> match_commit("Signed--by:")
False
>>> match_commit("Bug:")
True
>>> match_commit("Bug-:")
False

The 1st group (\w+-)* captures 0 to any repetitions of patterns “word + ‘-‘”, the last one \w+: looks for the last word + ‘:’.