Infinite Loop in Python Regex?

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The seemingly simple regex command appears to put python into an infinite loop/hang:

import re
re.search(r"([A-Z]+\s*)+,", "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON BEHALF OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL")

I waited about 10 mins for the above command to complete, but it never did. However, the line below completes after about 5 to 10 seconds on my machine:

re.search(r"([A-Z]+\s*)+,", "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ON BEHALF")

So is this a python bug or is the particular regex written very inefficiently? If the problem is the latter, why is that so and what can I do to fix it?

asked 15 secs ago

speedplane

3,501