title: Extract currency symbol from price in Python
body: <p>I am writing some code in Python where I am required to extract the currency symbol from a price. So,</p>
  
  <pre><code>cost = $56.78
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I need to get just the '$'.</p>
  
  <p>On these forums I found how to extract the number but not the currency symbol. I am new to regexes so would be grateful for help.</p>
  
  <p>It could be any currency, not just dollar, but I suppose it would be the first character in the string..</p>