Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@nealrs
Created May 31, 2015 01:33
Show Gist options
  • Save nealrs/96342d8231b75cf4bb82 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save nealrs/96342d8231b75cf4bb82 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Expand common (and some very uncommon) english contractions
"""
this code is not mine! i shamelessly copied it from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19790188/expanding-english-language-contractions-in-python
all credits go to alko and arturomp @ stack overflow.
basically, it's a big find/replace.
"""
import re
cList = {
"ain't": "am not",
"aren't": "are not",
"can't": "cannot",
"can't've": "cannot have",
"'cause": "because",
"could've": "could have",
"couldn't": "could not",
"couldn't've": "could not have",
"didn't": "did not",
"doesn't": "does not",
"don't": "do not",
"hadn't": "had not",
"hadn't've": "had not have",
"hasn't": "has not",
"haven't": "have not",
"he'd": "he would",
"he'd've": "he would have",
"he'll": "he will",
"he'll've": "he will have",
"he's": "he is",
"how'd": "how did",
"how'd'y": "how do you",
"how'll": "how will",
"how's": "how is",
"I'd": "I would",
"I'd've": "I would have",
"I'll": "I will",
"I'll've": "I will have",
"I'm": "I am",
"I've": "I have",
"isn't": "is not",
"it'd": "it had",
"it'd've": "it would have",
"it'll": "it will",
"it'll've": "it will have",
"it's": "it is",
"let's": "let us",
"ma'am": "madam",
"mayn't": "may not",
"might've": "might have",
"mightn't": "might not",
"mightn't've": "might not have",
"must've": "must have",
"mustn't": "must not",
"mustn't've": "must not have",
"needn't": "need not",
"needn't've": "need not have",
"o'clock": "of the clock",
"oughtn't": "ought not",
"oughtn't've": "ought not have",
"shan't": "shall not",
"sha'n't": "shall not",
"shan't've": "shall not have",
"she'd": "she would",
"she'd've": "she would have",
"she'll": "she will",
"she'll've": "she will have",
"she's": "she is",
"should've": "should have",
"shouldn't": "should not",
"shouldn't've": "should not have",
"so've": "so have",
"so's": "so is",
"that'd": "that would",
"that'd've": "that would have",
"that's": "that is",
"there'd": "there had",
"there'd've": "there would have",
"there's": "there is",
"they'd": "they would",
"they'd've": "they would have",
"they'll": "they will",
"they'll've": "they will have",
"they're": "they are",
"they've": "they have",
"to've": "to have",
"wasn't": "was not",
"we'd": "we had",
"we'd've": "we would have",
"we'll": "we will",
"we'll've": "we will have",
"we're": "we are",
"we've": "we have",
"weren't": "were not",
"what'll": "what will",
"what'll've": "what will have",
"what're": "what are",
"what's": "what is",
"what've": "what have",
"when's": "when is",
"when've": "when have",
"where'd": "where did",
"where's": "where is",
"where've": "where have",
"who'll": "who will",
"who'll've": "who will have",
"who's": "who is",
"who've": "who have",
"why's": "why is",
"why've": "why have",
"will've": "will have",
"won't": "will not",
"won't've": "will not have",
"would've": "would have",
"wouldn't": "would not",
"wouldn't've": "would not have",
"y'all": "you all",
"y'alls": "you alls",
"y'all'd": "you all would",
"y'all'd've": "you all would have",
"y'all're": "you all are",
"y'all've": "you all have",
"you'd": "you had",
"you'd've": "you would have",
"you'll": "you you will",
"you'll've": "you you will have",
"you're": "you are",
"you've": "you have"
}
c_re = re.compile('(%s)' % '|'.join(cList.keys()))
def expandContractions(text, c_re=c_re):
def replace(match):
return cList[match.group(0)]
return c_re.sub(replace, text)
# examples
print expandContractions('Don\'t you get it?')
print expandContractions('I ain\'t got time for y\'alls foolishness')
print expandContractions('You won\'t live to see tomorrow.')
print expandContractions('You\'ve got serious cojones coming in here like that.')
print expandContractions('I hadn\'t\'ve enough')
@pfv610
Copy link

pfv610 commented Jul 23, 2018

You will probably want to add word boundaries to the regex. I got some errors while trying to parse sentences that had some words like 'eight' or 'English' in it.
c_re = re.compile(r'\b(?:%s)\b' % '|'.join(cList.keys()))

@Japkeerat
Copy link

Just used this dictionary in a competition on Kaggle. Thanks for compiling it.

@Abhijithm2447
Copy link

Abhijithm2447 commented Sep 30, 2019

Also, maybe move all the contractions containing three parts above it two parts counterpart.
For example:
"hadn't've": "had not have",
"hadn't": "had not",
If you do not do this, you will get:
"I hadn't've enough" -> "I had not've enough" which is still not fully expanded.

i've got serious cojones coming in here like that.
i've is not expanding to i have

@Bhairevi
Copy link

changing line 135 to return c_re.sub(replace, text.lower()) will result in a better demo of the function & dictionary

as it stands, the capital letters are preventing some of the contractions from being expanded

If the text follows grammatical rules, only the word "I" should be in uppercase in which case the dictionary works fine.

@loretoparisi
Copy link

So starting from the Wikipedia contractions page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_English_contractions
I did a little script to grab the dataset:

https://gist.github.com/loretoparisi/c221a9c55fb71a23ff4e7bba3b794425

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment