python3 unicode string comparsion

Question

I have a string that comes from a process' output, which seems to be unicode, and I can't compare it to a 'normal' string.

Here is the code:

proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
(out, err) = proc.communicate()
result = re.match(r'#title#(?P<title>.*)#artist#(?P<artist>.*)#track#(?P<track>.*)#islive#(?P<islive>.*)', out.decode("utf-8"))
if result:
    print(result.group('islive'))
    print('na')

    print(result.group('islive').lower() == 'na')

The output:

u'NA'
na
False

The python version is Python 3.6.5.

I need some help on how to compare these two strings.

What if you `print(repr(result.group('islive').lower())`, to find out exactly what you've got? — jonrsharpe, Jun 27 '18 at 11:51

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 27 '18 at 12:08

0

If comparing to u'na' (which should be preferred due to being faster) is not an option you can utf-8 encode your unicode string before comparing.

proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
(out, err) = proc.communicate()
result = re.match(r'#title#(?P<title>.*)#artist#(?P<artist>.*)#track#(?P<track>.*)#islive#(?P<islive>.*)', out.decode("utf-8"))
if result:
    print(result.group('islive'))
    print('na')

    print(result.group('islive').lower().encode('utf8') == 'na')

answered Jun 27 '18 at 12:08

Teekeks

196
10

with .encode('utf8') it prints b"u'na'", but still not equals – katona.abel Jun 27 '18 at 13:41
Wait, is the String u'na'? what do you get when you do this? print('"{}"'.format(result.group('islive'))) – Teekeks Jun 27 '18 at 13:45
"u'NA'" that's what i got – katona.abel Jun 27 '18 at 14:25
That explains it. The string is litteraly "u'NA' and not the unicode characters NA – Teekeks Jun 27 '18 at 14:46
result.group('islive').lower().encode('utf8') == "u'na'", since the string is u'na' and not na – Teekeks Jun 28 '18 at 08:29

python3 unicode string comparsion

1 Answers1