+ @staticmethod
+ def in_iterable_re(needle, haystack):
+ """
+ Check if given needle is in the iterable haystack, using regex.
+
+ :param needle: string to be matched
+ :param haystack: iterable of strings (optionally regex patterns)
+ :return: True if needle is eqial to any of the elements in haystack,
+ or if a nonempty regex pattern in haystack is found in needle.
+ """
+
+ # match without regex
+ if needle in haystack:
+ return True
+
+ for pattern in haystack:
+ # match if regex pattern is set and found in the needle
+ if pattern and re.search(pattern, needle) is not None:
+ return True
+ else:
+ return False
+