RegEX: Finding any two words on their own line ending in :

February 24, 2022

Given this body of text:

First Citizen:
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us:
Speak, speak.
ALL:
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?

I would like to match:

['First Citizen', 'ALL']

I originally tried something like this r'([\w -:]*:)' but want to limit it to lines with only 2 words.

Specifications:

Line ends with :
Line only has two words or less
match those one or two words

>Solution :

Any word: \w+

Any two words (with whitespace): \w+\s\w+

Any two words or less (assuming one, not zero): \w+(?:\s\w+)?

Any two words or less on their own line: ^\w+(?:\s\w+)?$

Any two words or less on their own line ending in ":": ^\w+(?:\s\w+)?:$

The result in (Python) code:

import re

text = """
First Citizen:
Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us:
Speak, speak.
ALL:
You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
"""

for match in re.findall(r"^\w+(?:\s\w+)?:$", text, re.MULTILINE):
    print(match)

The output: