Question

My script:

def fetch_online():
    pattern = re.search('(<span class="on">)(.*)(</span>)', data)
    return pattern.group(2)

print fetch_online()

Inside data, there is one line that contains this:

        <b><span><span class="on">5879</span> users online</span></b>

However, when ran, the output is this:

5879</span> users online

How should I fix this so it only grabs the data before the first </span>?

Answer 1

In your specific case here, got for <span class="on">)(\d+)</span>. In a more general approach, go for non-greedy:

<span class="on">(.*?)</span>