Identity resolution with RegEx : <p>I have a list of authors of papers that benefits from identity resolution!
As an example, it should match these names:</p>

<pre><code>Peter J. Smith
Peter Smith
P.J. Smith
P. J. Smith (works with space or without it)
p.j. smith 
</code></pre>

<p>I'm new to RegEx. I'd like to write a RegEx in R/Python that match the initial of the first name and the whole last name and ignore the middle name. (Although, this method will have some issues, for example there are occurrences of names such as Peter L. Smith but I think considering the middle name will complicate things.) Thanks for your help. </p>
