You can use groups (indicated with '(' and ')') to capture parts of the string. The match object's group() method then gives you the group's contents:
>>> import re>>> s = 'name my_user_name is valid'>>> match = re.search('name (.*) is valid', s)>>> match.group(0) # the entire match'name my_user_name is valid'>>> match.group(1) # the first parenthesized subgroup'my_user_name'In Python 3.6+ you can also index into a match object instead of using group():
>>> match[0] # the entire match 'name my_user_name is valid'>>> match[1] # the first parenthesized subgroup'my_user_name'