title: python Regex match exact word
body: <p>I am trying to match different expressions for addresses:</p>
  
  <p>Example:  '398 W. Broadway'</p>
  
  <p>I would like to match W. or E. (east) or Pl. for place ...etc</p>
  
  <p>It is very simple using this regex</p>
  
  <p><code>(W.|West)</code> for example.</p>
  
  <p>Yet python re module doesn't match anything when I input that</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt;&gt;&gt; a
  '398 W. Broadway'
  &gt;&gt;&gt; x = re.match('(W.|West)', a)
  &gt;&gt;&gt; x
  &gt;&gt;&gt; x == None
  True
  &gt;&gt;&gt; 
  </code></pre>