What distinguishes re.search from re.match?"

The search() function in the Python re-module searches for the first occurrence of a pattern in a string, whereas the match() function searches for a pattern only at the beginning of the string. In other words, search() looks for the pattern anywhere in the string, while match() only looks for the pattern at the beginning of the string. Additionally, search() returns a match object if it finds a match, while match() returns a match object only if the pattern is found at the beginning of the string.