[Jython-users] reg exp negations

[<Dou...@gr...>]

I'm using the re module with Jython embedded in my Java app to handle the
pattern matching.  I'm struggling with the regular expression syntax to
perform a negation of a pattern.  Specifically, for a date I want to allow
DD-MMM-YY (JAN, MAR,etc for the month value) so I want my match object to
be returned only for items that don't match this pattern.

 r=re.compile('[0123][0-9][-]\w{3}[-][01][0123]').search("12-DEC-02")
//this returns a match object

How can I wrapper this pattern and negate it so the failure to find the
pattern is what is returned?

I've tried variations similar to the snippet below to group and negate
without success.
r=re.compile('^([0123][0-9][-]\w{3}[-][01][0123])').search("12-DEC-02")

I have looked at the Mastering Regular Expressions book which is some help
but is heavily Perl slanted.  The re module documentation doesn't delve
into my particular issue sufficiently (or I just missed it).  Any
recommendations for additional reference resources in addition to some help
with the current problem would be welcome.

Thanks,

Doug