diff --git a/Doc/library/re.rst b/Doc/library/re.rst
index 7c950bfd5b1fd5..ffaf024cc4afe0 100644
--- a/Doc/library/re.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/re.rst
@@ -965,13 +965,13 @@ form.
    Clear the regular expression cache.
 
 
-.. exception:: error(msg, pattern=None, pos=None)
+.. exception:: ReCompileError(msg, pattern=None, pos=None)
 
    Exception raised when a string passed to one of the functions here is not a
-   valid regular expression (for example, it might contain unmatched parentheses)
-   or when some other error occurs during compilation or matching.  It is never an
-   error if a string contains no match for a pattern.  The error instance has
-   the following additional attributes:
+   valid regular expression (for example, it might contain unmatched
+   parentheses) or when some other error occurs during compilation or matching.
+   It is never an error if a string contains no match for a pattern.  The
+   ``ReCompileError`` instance has the following additional attributes:
 
    .. attribute:: msg
 
@@ -996,6 +996,10 @@ form.
    .. versionchanged:: 3.5
       Added additional attributes.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.9
+      ``ReCompileError`` was originally named ``error``; the latter is kept as an alias for
+      backward compatibility.
+
 .. _re-objects:
 
 Regular Expression Objects
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/searchengine.py b/Lib/idlelib/searchengine.py
index 911e7d4691cac1..058c2464946d0f 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/searchengine.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/searchengine.py
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ def getprog(self):
             flags = flags | re.IGNORECASE
         try:
             prog = re.compile(pat, flags)
-        except re.error as what:
+        except re.ReCompileError as what:
             args = what.args
             msg = args[0]
             col = args[1] if len(args) >= 2 else -1
diff --git a/Lib/pstats.py b/Lib/pstats.py
index 4b419a8ecdb6c7..41b95b56c04eea 100644
--- a/Lib/pstats.py
+++ b/Lib/pstats.py
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ def eval_print_amount(self, sel, list, msg):
         if isinstance(sel, str):
             try:
                 rex = re.compile(sel)
-            except re.error:
+            except re.ReCompileError:
                 msg += "   <Invalid regular expression %r>\n" % sel
                 return new_list, msg
             new_list = []
diff --git a/Lib/re.py b/Lib/re.py
index 8f1d55ddf7d69d..e539d1546dcc11 100644
--- a/Lib/re.py
+++ b/Lib/re.py
@@ -115,7 +115,8 @@
     U  UNICODE     For compatibility only. Ignored for string patterns (it
                    is the default), and forbidden for bytes patterns.
 
-This module also defines an exception 'error'.
+This module also defines exception 'ReCompileError', aliased to 'error' for
+backward compatibility.
 
 """
 
@@ -135,7 +136,7 @@
     "findall", "finditer", "compile", "purge", "template", "escape",
     "error", "Pattern", "Match", "A", "I", "L", "M", "S", "X", "U",
     "ASCII", "IGNORECASE", "LOCALE", "MULTILINE", "DOTALL", "VERBOSE",
-    "UNICODE",
+    "UNICODE", "ReCompileError"
 ]
 
 __version__ = "2.2.1"
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ def __repr__(self):
 globals().update(RegexFlag.__members__)
 
 # sre exception
-error = sre_compile.error
+ReCompileError = error = sre_compile.ReCompileError
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # public interface
diff --git a/Lib/sre_compile.py b/Lib/sre_compile.py
index c6398bfb83a576..10ef64127ba95e 100644
--- a/Lib/sre_compile.py
+++ b/Lib/sre_compile.py
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ def _compile(code, pattern, flags):
                 emit(ANY)
         elif op in REPEATING_CODES:
             if flags & SRE_FLAG_TEMPLATE:
-                raise error("internal: unsupported template operator %r" % (op,))
+                raise ReCompileError(f"internal: unsupported template operator {op!r}")
             if _simple(av[2]):
                 if op is MAX_REPEAT:
                     emit(REPEAT_ONE)
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ def _compile(code, pattern, flags):
             else:
                 lo, hi = av[1].getwidth()
                 if lo != hi:
-                    raise error("look-behind requires fixed-width pattern")
+                    raise ReCompileError("look-behind requires fixed-width pattern")
                 emit(lo) # look behind
             _compile(code, av[1], flags)
             emit(SUCCESS)
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ def _compile(code, pattern, flags):
             else:
                 code[skipyes] = _len(code) - skipyes + 1
         else:
-            raise error("internal: unsupported operand type %r" % (op,))
+            raise ReCompileError(f"internal: unsupported operand type {op!r}")
 
 def _compile_charset(charset, flags, code):
     # compile charset subprogram
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ def _compile_charset(charset, flags, code):
             else:
                 emit(av)
         else:
-            raise error("internal: unsupported set operator %r" % (op,))
+            raise ReCompileError(f"internal: unsupported set operator {op!r}")
     emit(FAILURE)
 
 def _optimize_charset(charset, iscased=None, fixup=None, fixes=None):
diff --git a/Lib/sre_constants.py b/Lib/sre_constants.py
index 8e613cb3fa5dcb..1f66549d3bd15e 100644
--- a/Lib/sre_constants.py
+++ b/Lib/sre_constants.py
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
 
 from _sre import MAXREPEAT, MAXGROUPS
 
-# SRE standard exception (access as sre.error)
+# SRE standard exception (access as sre.ReCompileError)
 # should this really be here?
 
-class error(Exception):
+class ReCompileError(Exception):
     """Exception raised for invalid regular expressions.
 
     Attributes:
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ def __init__(self, msg, pattern=None, pos=None):
             self.lineno = self.colno = None
         super().__init__(msg)
 
+# backward compatibility after renaming in 3.9
+error = ReCompileError
 
 class _NamedIntConstant(int):
     def __new__(cls, value, name):
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_re.py b/Lib/test/test_re.py
index 4817d761a22df9..8cb657e81c7a5b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_re.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_re.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def recurse(actual, expect):
         recurse(actual, expect)
 
     def checkPatternError(self, pattern, errmsg, pos=None):
-        with self.assertRaises(re.error) as cm:
+        with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError) as cm:
             re.compile(pattern)
         with self.subTest(pattern=pattern):
             err = cm.exception
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ def checkPatternError(self, pattern, errmsg, pos=None):
                 self.assertEqual(err.pos, pos)
 
     def checkTemplateError(self, pattern, repl, string, errmsg, pos=None):
-        with self.assertRaises(re.error) as cm:
+        with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError) as cm:
             re.sub(pattern, repl, string)
         with self.subTest(pattern=pattern, repl=repl):
             err = cm.exception
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ def checkTemplateError(self, pattern, repl, string, errmsg, pos=None):
             if pos is not None:
                 self.assertEqual(err.pos, pos)
 
+    def test_error_is_ReCompileError_alias(self):
+        assert re.error is re.ReCompileError
+
     def test_keep_buffer(self):
         # See bug 14212
         b = bytearray(b'x')
@@ -123,7 +126,7 @@ def test_basic_re_sub(self):
                          (chr(9)+chr(10)+chr(11)+chr(13)+chr(12)+chr(7)+chr(8)))
         for c in 'cdehijklmopqsuwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ':
             with self.subTest(c):
-                with self.assertRaises(re.error):
+                with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError):
                     self.assertEqual(re.sub('a', '\\' + c, 'a'), '\\' + c)
 
         self.assertEqual(re.sub(r'^\s*', 'X', 'test'), 'Xtest')
@@ -689,10 +692,10 @@ def test_other_escapes(self):
         re.purge()  # for warnings
         for c in 'ceghijklmopqyzCEFGHIJKLMNOPQRTVXY':
             with self.subTest(c):
-                self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, '\\%c' % c)
+                self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, '\\%c' % c)
         for c in 'ceghijklmopqyzABCEFGHIJKLMNOPQRTVXYZ':
             with self.subTest(c):
-                self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, '[\\%c]' % c)
+                self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, '[\\%c]' % c)
 
     def test_named_unicode_escapes(self):
         # test individual Unicode named escapes
@@ -819,14 +822,14 @@ def test_lookbehind(self):
         self.assertIsNone(re.match(r'(?:(a)|(x))b(?<=(?(1)c|x))c', 'abc'))
         self.assertTrue(re.match(r'(?:(a)|(x))b(?<=(?(1)b|x))c', 'abc'))
         # Group used before defined.
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(?(2)b|x))(c)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(?(2)b|x))(c)')
         self.assertIsNone(re.match(r'(a)b(?<=(?(1)c|x))(c)', 'abc'))
         self.assertTrue(re.match(r'(a)b(?<=(?(1)b|x))(c)', 'abc'))
         # Group defined in the same lookbehind pattern
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(.)\2)(c)')
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(?P<a>.)(?P=a))(c)')
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(a)(?(2)b|x))(c)')
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(.)(?<=\2))(c)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(.)\2)(c)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(?P<a>.)(?P=a))(c)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(a)(?(2)b|x))(c)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(a)b(?<=(.)(?<=\2))(c)')
 
     def test_ignore_case(self):
         self.assertEqual(re.match("abc", "ABC", re.I).group(0), "ABC")
@@ -1151,8 +1154,8 @@ def test_sre_byte_literals(self):
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"\x%02x" % i).encode(), bytes([i])))
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"\x%02x0" % i).encode(), bytes([i])+b"0"))
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"\x%02xz" % i).encode(), bytes([i])+b"z"))
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, br"\u1234")
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, br"\U00012345")
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, br"\u1234")
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, br"\U00012345")
         self.assertTrue(re.match(br"\0", b"\000"))
         self.assertTrue(re.match(br"\08", b"\0008"))
         self.assertTrue(re.match(br"\01", b"\001"))
@@ -1174,8 +1177,8 @@ def test_sre_byte_class_literals(self):
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"[\x%02x]" % i).encode(), bytes([i])))
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"[\x%02x0]" % i).encode(), bytes([i])))
             self.assertTrue(re.match((r"[\x%02xz]" % i).encode(), bytes([i])))
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, br"[\u1234]")
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, br"[\U00012345]")
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, br"[\u1234]")
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, br"[\U00012345]")
         self.checkPatternError(br"[\567]",
                                r'octal escape value \567 outside of '
                                r'range 0-0o377', 1)
@@ -1545,11 +1548,11 @@ def test_ascii_and_unicode_flag(self):
             self.assertIsNone(pat.match(b'\xe0'))
         # Incompatibilities
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, br'\w', re.UNICODE)
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, br'(?u)\w')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, br'(?u)\w')
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, r'\w', re.UNICODE | re.ASCII)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, r'(?u)\w', re.ASCII)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, r'(?a)\w', re.UNICODE)
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, r'(?au)\w')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, r'(?au)\w')
 
     def test_locale_flag(self):
         enc = locale.getpreferredencoding()
@@ -1590,11 +1593,11 @@ def test_locale_flag(self):
             self.assertIsNone(pat.match(bletter))
         # Incompatibilities
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, '', re.LOCALE)
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, '(?L)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, '(?L)')
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, b'', re.LOCALE | re.ASCII)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, b'(?L)', re.ASCII)
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, re.compile, b'(?a)', re.LOCALE)
-        self.assertRaises(re.error, re.compile, b'(?aL)')
+        self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError, re.compile, b'(?aL)')
 
     def test_scoped_flags(self):
         self.assertTrue(re.match(r'(?i:a)b', 'Ab'))
@@ -1960,7 +1963,7 @@ def test_locale_compiled(self):
         self.assertIsNone(p4.match(b'\xc5\xc5'))
 
     def test_error(self):
-        with self.assertRaises(re.error) as cm:
+        with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError) as cm:
             re.compile('(\u20ac))')
         err = cm.exception
         self.assertIsInstance(err.pattern, str)
@@ -1972,14 +1975,14 @@ def test_error(self):
         self.assertIn(' at position 3', str(err))
         self.assertNotIn(' at position 3', err.msg)
         # Bytes pattern
-        with self.assertRaises(re.error) as cm:
+        with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError) as cm:
             re.compile(b'(\xa4))')
         err = cm.exception
         self.assertIsInstance(err.pattern, bytes)
         self.assertEqual(err.pattern, b'(\xa4))')
         self.assertEqual(err.pos, 3)
         # Multiline pattern
-        with self.assertRaises(re.error) as cm:
+        with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError) as cm:
             re.compile("""
                 (
                     abc
@@ -2229,7 +2232,7 @@ def test_re_tests(self):
 
             with self.subTest(pattern=pattern, string=s):
                 if outcome == SYNTAX_ERROR:  # Expected a syntax error
-                    with self.assertRaises(re.error):
+                    with self.assertRaises(re.ReCompileError):
                         re.compile(pattern)
                     continue
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-07-13-19-03.bpo-38981.kJrSbj.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-07-13-19-03.bpo-38981.kJrSbj.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..775d8c8e537811
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2019-12-07-13-19-03.bpo-38981.kJrSbj.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+The ``re.error`` exception has been renamed to :exc:`ReCompileError` for
+clarity and conformance with pep-8.  A ``re.error`` alias has been kept for
+backward compatibility.
diff --git a/Modules/_xxtestfuzz/fuzzer.c b/Modules/_xxtestfuzz/fuzzer.c
index dae1eaeabd000b..2e48ecba025123 100644
--- a/Modules/_xxtestfuzz/fuzzer.c
+++ b/Modules/_xxtestfuzz/fuzzer.c
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ PyObject* sre_error_exception = NULL;
 int SRE_FLAG_DEBUG = 0;
 /* Called by LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput for initialization */
 static int init_sre_compile() {
-    /* Import sre_compile.compile and sre.error */
+    /* Import sre_compile.compile and sre_constants.ReCompileError */
     PyObject* sre_compile_module = PyImport_ImportModule("sre_compile");
     if (sre_compile_module == NULL) {
         return 0;
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ static int init_sre_compile() {
     if (sre_constants == NULL) {
         return 0;
     }
-    sre_error_exception = PyObject_GetAttrString(sre_constants, "error");
+    sre_error_exception = PyObject_GetAttrString(sre_constants, "ReCompileError");
     if (sre_error_exception == NULL) {
         return 0;
     }
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ static int fuzz_sre_compile(const char* data, size_t size) {
     ) {
         PyErr_Clear();
     }
-    /* Ignore re.error */
+    /* Ignore re.ReCompileError */
     if (compiled == NULL && PyErr_ExceptionMatches(sre_error_exception)) {
         PyErr_Clear();
     }
diff --git a/Tools/demo/redemo.py b/Tools/demo/redemo.py
index f801dfce5fe1a3..e3a08bc8366df5 100755
--- a/Tools/demo/redemo.py
+++ b/Tools/demo/redemo.py
@@ -104,10 +104,10 @@ def recompile(self, event=None):
                                        self.getflags())
             bg = self.promptdisplay['background']
             self.statusdisplay.config(text="", background=bg)
-        except re.error as msg:
+        except re.ReCompileError as msg:
             self.compiled = None
             self.statusdisplay.config(
-                    text="re.error: %s" % str(msg),
+                    text="re.ReCompileError: %s" % str(msg),
                     background="red")
         self.reevaluate()
 
diff --git a/Tools/scripts/rgrep.py b/Tools/scripts/rgrep.py
index c39bf93aad3bb2..0ce9422bae1f5d 100755
--- a/Tools/scripts/rgrep.py
+++ b/Tools/scripts/rgrep.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ def main():
     pattern, filename = args
     try:
         prog = re.compile(pattern, reflags)
-    except re.error as msg:
+    except re.ReCompileError as msg:
         usage("error in regular expression: %s" % msg)
     try:
         f = open(filename)

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC '-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN' 'http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd'>
<html xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<head>
<title>pFad - Phonifier reborn</title>
<meta http-equiv='Content-Type' content='text/html; charset=utf-8' />
</head>
<body>
<h1>Pfad - The Proxy pFad of &#169; 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.</h1>


<!-- Disclaimer -->
<p>Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.</p>
<br>
<p>Alternative Proxies:</p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/php-proxy/index.php?q=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/python/cpython/pull/17501.diff" target="_blank">Alternative Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/python/cpython/pull/17501.diff" target="_blank">pFad Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/v3index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/python/cpython/pull/17501.diff" target="_blank">pFad v3 Proxy</a></p><p><a href="http://rainy.clevelandohioweatherforecast.com/pFad/v4index.php?u=https://patch-diff.githubusercontent.com/raw/python/cpython/pull/17501.diff" target="_blank">pFad v4 Proxy</a></p></body>
</html>