Isn't re.findall supposed to find all?

[Rodrigo Senra]

June Kim wrote:
> 
> But my question still remains; I want to find a substring
> that starts with a specific string, say XYZ and ends with
> another specific string, say QPR, but hasn't got a string,
> LMN in between the opener and the closer.
> 
> e.g. XYZ....(any length of letters but no LMN here).....QPR
> 
> Could any one enlighten me kindly?

My beacon points to: ;o)

'XYZ....(any length of letters but no LMN here).....QPR XYZ bla NML QPR'
>>> p = re.compile(r'(XYZ[\w\s]*?[^LMN][\w\s]*?QPR)')
>>> print p.findall(z)
['XYZ bla NML QPR']

Where:
r'(XYZ[\w\s]*?[^LMN][\w\s]*?QPR)
raw=head + non-greedy-stuff + avoid-LMN + non-greedy-stuff + tail
regards
Rod
-- 
Rodrigo Senra         
Computer Engineer   (GPr Sistemas Ltda)  rodsenra at correionet.com.br 
MSc Student of Reflection (IC- UNICAMP) Rodrigo.Senra at ic.unicamp.br
http://www.ic.unicamp.br/~921234 (see also   http://www.gpr.com.br)