import sre def s_ident(scanner, token): return token def s_operator(scanner, token): return "op%s" % token def s_float(scanner, token): return float(token) def s_int(scanner, token): return int(token) scanner = sre.Scanner([ (r"[a-zA-Z_]\w*", s_ident), (r"\d+\.\d*", s_float), (r"\d+", s_int), (r"=|\+|-|\*|/", s_operator), (r"\s+", None), ]) print scanner.scan("sum = 3*foo + 312.50 + bar")