Remove re.template() and re.TEMPLATE

[serhiy-storchaka]

BPO	47211
Nosy	@ezio-melotti, @serhiy-storchaka, @animalize
PRs	bpo-47211: Remove function re.template() and flag re.TEMPLATE #32300

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2022-04-06.17:04:13.978>
created_at = <Date 2022-04-04.08:56:13.302>
labels = ['expert-regex', 'type-feature', 'library', '3.11']
title = 'Remove re.template() and re.TEMPLATE'
updated_at = <Date 2022-04-06.17:04:13.978>
user = 'https://github.com/serhiy-storchaka'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2022-04-06.17:04:13.978>
actor = 'serhiy.storchaka'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2022-04-06.17:04:13.978>
closer = 'serhiy.storchaka'
components = ['Library (Lib)', 'Regular Expressions']
creation = <Date 2022-04-04.08:56:13.302>
creator = 'serhiy.storchaka'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 47211
keywords = ['patch']
message_count = 2.0
messages = ['416658', '416884']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['ezio.melotti', 'mrabarnett', 'serhiy.storchaka', 'malin']
pr_nums = ['32300']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue47211'
versions = ['Python 3.11']

[serhiy-storchaka]

They were added in 436c3d5 (between 1.6a2 and 2.0), but the purpose is not known. See also https://mail.python.org/archives/list/python-dev@python.org/message/DVSQGM5LO4TK63C63H6KQ6XBTBQGFLEN/. The feature was not fully implemented, and it was disabled short time later in 29c4ba9. Currently the only effect of this flag is that repetition operators (+, *, ?, {}) do not work. A comment was added in 3562f11:

SRE_FLAG_TEMPLATE = 1 # template mode (disable backtracking)

It's all. I guess it could have some relation to possessive repetition operators, except that it is a global flag.

I think it should be removed without deprecation because it never really worked and never was documented.

[serhiy-storchaka]

New changeset b09184b by Serhiy Storchaka in branch 'main':
bpo-47211: Remove function re.template() and flag re.TEMPLATE (GH-32300)
b09184b