import re xml = """ Yacc Filip Maric 2004 Matematicki fakultet 100 Fredrik Lundh 50 O’Reilly & Associates 2001 Python Standard Library """ m = re.search(r'(?!.*.* Python Standard Library ).*(?P Python Standard Library ).*?', xml, flags=re.DOTALL) print(m.group('book')) m = re.search(r'(?!.*.* Yacc ).*(?P Yacc ).*?', xml, flags=re.DOTALL) print(m.group('book'))