Python regex re.sub() is not matching and replacing as expected - regex

Question

The following regex isn't replacing substrings as expected.
I've tried running the code with the following modifications (one at a time, of course) all with no luck:
Utilizing list comprehensions (current)
Using a traditional for loop
Adding the regex result back to the iterator itself
Appending the regex result to a new list
Checked the type of 'name' (it's a string)
Utilized (copied) code format from another regex in my notebook that is currently working
Put the regex into regex101.com to verify that it's functioning (you can see the regex and data I'm using here
Adding/removing the raw string indicators preceding the regex and substitution patterns
names is a list of strings
reg_pattern = r"(?!\\s)(\\W[^\\W,]+)(?!,) and\\s([^ ]+ )([^ ]+)"
sub_pattern = r"\\1 \\3 \\2\\3"
cleaned_names = []
cleaned_names = [re.sub(reg_pattern, sub_pattern, name) for name in names]
The goal can be seen in the link above (particularly in the 'substitution' section at the bottom of that page), but ultimately, I need to append group3 of the regex to the end of group1.

Answer 1

I'm guessing that maybe, you're trying to re.sub the couples names, for which you can likely write some expression similar to:
([A-Z][a-z]+)\s+and\s+(.*)([A-Z]\S*)
if you are not having edge cases, if you do then, you'd probably want to modify the char classes, [A-Z], and add those other chars, in there.
Demo
Test
import re
l = ['George Rosario, Ali Jones, Barbara Boll, and Lindsay McKelvoy', 'Jan and Edgar Adelman', 'Bill Mack and Les Lieberman', 'Dr. Susan Muehle-Bussel, Ray Morales, and Dr. Samuel Barker', 'Dan Barroso and Emily High', 'Cassie and George Sorenson', 'Tom Scott and Mark Smith', 'The scene at IDEAL School & Academy’s 10th\xa0Annual Gala.',
'Les Lieberman, Barri Lieberman, Isabel Kallman, Trish Iervolino, and Ron Iervolino', 'Chuck Grodin', 'Diana Rosario, Ali Sussman, Sarah Boll, Jen Zaleski, Alysse Brennan, and Lindsay Macbeth', 'Kelly and Tom Murro', 'Udo Spreitzenbarth', 'Ron Iervolino, Trish Iervolino, Russ Middleton, and Lisa Middleton', 'Barbara Loughlin, Dr. Gerald Loughlin, and Debbie Gelston', 'Julianne Michelle']
e = r'([A-Z][a-z]+)\s+and\s+(.*)([A-Z]\S*)'
l_out = []
for names in l:
if re.match(e, names):
l_out.append(re.sub(e, r'\1 \3 and \2\3', names))
else:
l_out.append(names)
print(l_out)
Output
['George Rosario, Ali Jones, Barbara Boll, and Lindsay McKelvoy', 'Jan
Adelman and Edgar Adelman', 'Bill Mack and Les Lieberman', 'Dr. Susan
Muehle-Bussel, Ray Morales, and Dr. Samuel Barker', 'Dan Barroso and
Emily High', 'Cassie Sorenson and George Sorenson', 'Tom Scott and
Mark Smith', 'The scene at IDEAL School & Academy’s 10th\xa0Annual
Gala.', 'Les Lieberman, Barri Lieberman, Isabel Kallman, Trish
Iervolino, and Ron Iervolino', 'Chuck Grodin', 'Diana Rosario, Ali
Sussman, Sarah Boll, Jen Zaleski, Alysse Brennan, and Lindsay
Macbeth', 'Kelly Murro and Tom Murro', 'Udo Spreitzenbarth', 'Ron
Iervolino, Trish Iervolino, Russ Middleton, and Lisa Middleton',
'Barbara Loughlin, Dr. Gerald Loughlin, and Debbie Gelston', 'Julianne
Michelle']
Or you can try
import re
l = ['George Rosario, Ali Jones, Barbara Boll, and Lindsay McKelvoy', 'Jan and Edgar Adelman', 'Bill Mack and Les Lieberman', 'Dr. Susan Muehle-Bussel, Ray Morales, and Dr. Samuel Barker', 'Dan Barroso and Emily High', 'Cassie and George Sorenson', 'Tom Scott and Mark Smith', 'The scene at IDEAL School & Academy’s 10th\xa0Annual Gala.',
'Les Lieberman, Barri Lieberman, Isabel Kallman, Trish Iervolino, and Ron Iervolino', 'Chuck Grodin', 'Diana Rosario, Ali Sussman, Sarah Boll, Jen Zaleski, Alysse Brennan, and Lindsay Macbeth', 'Kelly and Tom Murro', 'Udo Spreitzenbarth', 'Ron Iervolino, Trish Iervolino, Russ Middleton, and Lisa Middleton', 'Barbara Loughlin, Dr. Gerald Loughlin, and Debbie Gelston', 'Julianne Michelle']
e = r'([A-Z][a-z]+)\s+and\s+(.*)([A-Z]\S*)'
l_out = []
for names in l:
if re.match(e, names):
l_out.append(re.sub(e, r'\1 \3', names))
l_out.append(re.sub(e, r'\2\3', names))
else:
l_out.append(names)
print(l_out)
Output
['George Rosario, Ali Jones, Barbara Boll, and Lindsay McKelvoy', 'Jan
Adelman', 'Edgar Adelman', 'Bill Mack and Les Lieberman', 'Dr. Susan
Muehle-Bussel, Ray Morales, and Dr. Samuel Barker', 'Dan Barroso and
Emily High', 'Cassie Sorenson', 'George Sorenson', 'Tom Scott and Mark
Smith', 'The scene at IDEAL School & Academy’s 10th\xa0Annual Gala.',
'Les Lieberman, Barri Lieberman, Isabel Kallman, Trish Iervolino, and
Ron Iervolino', 'Chuck Grodin', 'Diana Rosario, Ali Sussman, Sarah
Boll, Jen Zaleski, Alysse Brennan, and Lindsay Macbeth', 'Kelly
Murro', 'Tom Murro', 'Udo Spreitzenbarth', 'Ron Iervolino, Trish
Iervolino, Russ Middleton, and Lisa Middleton', 'Barbara Loughlin, Dr.
Gerald Loughlin, and Debbie Gelston', 'Julianne Michelle']
If you wish to simplify/modify/explore the expression, it's been explained on the top right panel of regex101.com. If you'd like, you can also watch in this link, how it would match against some sample inputs.