import re def lreplace(pattern, sub, string): """ Replaces 'pattern' in 'string' with 'sub' if 'pattern' starts 'string'. """ return re.sub('^%s' % pattern, sub, string) def rreplace(pattern, sub, string): """ Replaces 'pattern' in 'string' with 'sub' if 'pattern' ends 'string'. """ return re.sub('%s$' % pattern, sub, string)