title: Python regex match literal asterisk
body: <p>Given the following string:</p>
  
  <pre><code>s = 'abcdefg*'
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How can I match it or any other string only made of lowercase letters and <em>optionally</em> ending with an asterisk? I thought the following would work, but it does not:</p>
  
  <pre><code>re.match(r"^[a-z]\*+$", s)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It gives <code>None</code> and not a match object.</p>