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I recently learned about named groups in Python regular expressions. 
Almost all the documentation I've found online explains what they are
and give a simple example of how to use them. I was trying to use the
variables outside of the original regex, later in the code. Nowhere in
the documentation I found after a couple hours of searching was it
mentioned that named groups can only be backreferenced _within_ the pattern.
In particular, the sections at
http://www.amk.ca/python/howto/regex/#SECTION000530000000000000000 and
the description of the (?P<name>) behavior at
http://docs.python.org/library/re.html could be modified to make it
clear that the named capture does not create a variable usable outside
of the pattern.
I would be happy to alter the documentation appropriately.

That sounds like a good idea, particularly since it is a bit different 
from Perl. Please do write up the a clarification.
Typically, I have either attached a file with the suggested wording, or 
included it in a comment from which a commiter could cut-and-paste.
(If Georg has different preferences on how to submit the patch, they 
should probably go into a FAQ anyhow.)

I'm happy to review such a patch.

Hi Georg!
Sorry to be so long in getting back to you. I've attached a suggested
patch for the python-2.6.1-docs-text/library/re.txt documentation.
Also, in looking over Kuchling's HOWTO, the necessary information is
actually there, and I just wasn't paying attention =) Let me know if
I should do something else--this is my first 'fix'/submission to
Python, and I'm eager for feedback.
Thanks!
Gratefully,
a.

Committed a similar patch in r70866.