Python search for character pattern and if exists then indent

I have a pattern of text that I would like to find and push to a new line. The pattern is ), followed by a space and a character. Like this –

text_orig =

text cat dog cat dog
),
text rabbit cat dog
), text coffee cat dog. #need to indent this line

where it would become

text_new =

text cat dog cat dog
),
text rabbit cat dog
), 
text coffee cat dog

I’m pretty close to a solution, but stuck on what approach to use. Currently, I’m using re.sub but I believe that removes the first letter of the text like so –

text_new =

text cat dog cat dog
),
text rabbit cat dog
), 
ext coffee cat dog # removes first letter

re.sub('),sw','), n',text_orig)

Would I need search instead of sub? Help is very appreciated

Answer

You can use

re.sub(r'),[^Sn]*(?=w)', '),n', text_orig)

See the regex demo.

Or, if the pattern should only match at the start of a line, you should add ^ and the re.M flag:

re.sub(r'^),[^Sn]*(?=w)', '),n', text_orig, flags=re.M)

Here,

• ^ – start of a line (with re.M flag)
• ), – a ), substring
• [^Sn]* – zero or more whitespaces other than LF char
• (?=w) – a positive lookahead that requires a word char immediately to the right of the current location.