import re

# create a regular expression object for UVA computing ID
computingID = re.compile(r"[a-z]{2,3}[0-9][a-z]{1,3}")

text = '''this is a bunch of things ab3e ab12e abc1e
        abc12e ab12de ab1de abcde 123445'''

# search() returns the first matched object
search_result = computingID.search(text)     # return an object
print(search_result)

# start() returns the first index of the match
print(search_result.start())

# end() returns the last index of the match
print(search_result.end())

# group() returns the matched object
print(search_result.group())

# findall() returns all match (list of string)
findall_result = computingID.findall(text)
print(findall_result)
for thing in findall_result:
    print(thing)

# finditer() returns a list (or iterator) of the match object
finditer_result = computingID.finditer(text)
print(finditer_result)
for thing in finditer_result:
    print(thing, thing.start(), thing.end(), thing.group())