why isn't this python regex statement returning my viewstate information?

def ExtractViewState(string):
    m = re.match("__viewstate[^>]+value=\"\(\?<Value>[^\"]*\)", string, re.IGNORECASE)
    return m.group(0)

I think I'm missing something, but it m keeps returning None. Blagh.

UPDATE:

<开发者_运维问答;input type="hidden" name="__VIEWSTATE" value="5vzj+3s4pEHFJUQoOJbZicZdf+k2bi0uiXeIxMNTxjocu0FLzTXEI8pEcQy/V4r1vtIP6G/E0/j0C5TwvhaWdW1wJVGwGKfO26gvQk9O0zsxy5NBpx+PlfL5h7nlnAp+GmAIwdjLWxRFFbhxaOfH+yZQKfkzshBvE7xogxrTnrrlF22BiENHdWHuMqeGYb4AUfvbbJ2psQOwTTOF6meAjszLtaAxBVTgun4gVsGOKUDqasgzyYn7AsxsJ4rJ3S/64YU2sUwAsvCD1d0X3Q8bGiwriRU/pAo31xn4SfhP8dk22QbhFbVpvIwl3WGTxohL" />

should just return the text between in the value attribute:

"5vzj+3s4pEHFJUQoOJbZicZdf+k2bi0uiXeIxMNTxjocu0FLzTXEI8pEcQy/V4r1vtIP6G/E0/j0C5TwvhaWdW1wJVGwGKfO26gvQk9O0zsxy5NBpx+PlfL5h7nlnAp+GmAIwdjLWxRFFbhxaOfH+yZQKfkzshBvE7xogxrTnrrlF22BiENHdWHuMqeGYb4AUfvbbJ2psQOwTTOF6meAjszLtaAxBVTgun4gVsGOKUDqasgzyYn7AsxsJ4rJ3S/64YU2sUwAsvCD1d0X3Q8bGiwriRU/pAo31xn4SfhP8dk22QbhFbVpvIwl3WGTxohL"

You have a few issues:

import re
def ExtractViewState(string):
    # re.match looks only at the **beginning** of the string
    # dont escape the `( .. )` those capture the group
    m = re.search("__viewstate[^>]+value=\"([^\"]*)", string, re.IGNORECASE)
    # group(0) is the whole match, you want the 1st capture group
    return m.group(1)

Three problems.

1. You need re.search, not re.match.

2. You need (?P<...>), not just (?<...>).

3. You have more backslashes than you need.

   re.search("__viewstate[^>]+value=\"(?P<Value>[^\"]*)", s, re.IGNORECASE)

works for me.