#---------- Regular expression to identify a floating point----------#
pat = r'''(?x)
      (                   # exponentfloat
        (                 # intpart or pointfloat
          (               # pointfloat
            (\d+)?[.]\d+  # optional intpart with fraction
            |
            \d+[.]        # intpart with period
          )               # end pointfloat
          |
          \d+             # intpart
        )                 # end intpart or pointfloat
        [eE][+-]?\d+      # exponent
      )                   # end exponentfloat
      |
      (                   # pointfloat
        (\d+)?[.]\d+      # optional intpart with fraction
        |
        \d+[.]            # intpart with period
      )                   # end pointfloat
      '''