Not specific to Python, but it will be implemented in it... how do I compile a RE to catch everything between two know values? Here's what I've tried (but failed) to accomplish... the knowns here are START and END: data = "asdfasgSTARTpruyerfghdfjENDhfawrgbqfgsfgsdfg" x = re.compile('START.END', re.DOTALL) x.findall(data)