freecodecamp--freecodecamp/curriculum/challenges/english/blocks/daily-coding-challenges-python/69272dcf1c24b44fd79137c6.md

id, title, challengeType, dashedName

id	title	challengeType	dashedName
69272dcf1c24b44fd79137c6	Challenge 143: Markdown Italic Parser	29	challenge-143

--description--

Given a string that may include some italic text in Markdown, return the equivalent HTML string.

• Italic text in Markdown is any text that starts and ends with a single asterisk (*) or a single underscore (_).
• There cannot be any spaces between the text and the asterisk or underscore, but there can be spaces in the text itself.
• Convert all italic occurrences to HTML i tags and return the string.

For example, given "*This is italic*", return "<i>This is italic</i>".

Note: The console may not display HTML tags in strings when logging messages. Check the browser console to see logs with tags included.

--hints--

parse_italics("*This is italic*") should return "<i>This is italic</i>".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(parse_italics("*This is italic*"), "<i>This is italic</i>")`)
}})

parse_italics("_This is also italic_") should return "<i>This is also italic</i>".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(parse_italics("_This is also italic_"), "<i>This is also italic</i>")`)
}})

parse_italics("*This is not italic *") should return "*This is not italic *".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(parse_italics("*This is not italic *"), "*This is not italic *")`)
}})

parse_italics("_ This is also not italic_") should return "_ This is also not italic_".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(parse_italics("_ This is also not italic_"), "_ This is also not italic_")`)
}})

parse_italics("The *quick* brown fox _jumps_ over the *lazy* dog.") should return "The <i>quick</i> brown fox <i>jumps</i> over the <i>lazy</i> dog.".

({test: () => { runPython(`
from unittest import TestCase
TestCase().assertEqual(parse_italics("The *quick* brown fox _jumps_ over the *lazy* dog."), "The <i>quick</i> brown fox <i>jumps</i> over the <i>lazy</i> dog.")`)
}})

--seed--

--seed-contents--

def parse_italics(markdown):

    return markdown

--solutions--

import re
def parse_italics(markdown):
    pattern = r'(\*|_)([^\s][^]*?[^\s])\1'
    pattern = r'(\*|_)([^\s].*?[^\s])\1'
    return re.sub(pattern, r'<i>\2</i>', markdown)