Regex Python search vs match

 Python offers two different primitive operations based on regular expressions: match checks for a match only at the beginning of the string, while search checks for a match anywhere in the string (this is what Perl does by default).

Note that match may differ from search even when using a regular expression beginning with '^': '^' matches only at the start of the string, or in MULTILINE mode also immediately following a newline. The “match” operation succeeds only if the pattern matches at the start of the string regardless of mode, or at the starting position given by the optional pos argument regardless of whether a newline precedes it.

If zero or more characters at the beginning of string match the regular expression pattern, return a corresponding MatchObject instance. Return None if the string does not match the pattern; note that this is different from a zero-length match.

Note: If you want to locate a match anywhere in string, use search() instead.

Scan through string looking for a location where the regular expression pattern produces a match, and return a corresponding MatchObject instance. Return None if no position in the string matches the pattern; note that this is different from finding a zero-length match at some point in the string.

references:

https://www.edureka.co/community/14245/what-is-the-difference-between-re-search-and-re-match#:~:text=Python%20offers%20two%20different%20primitive,what%20Perl%20does%20by%20default).