import sys, re file = open("c:/1.txt", "r") newfile = open("c:/5.txt", "w") contents = file.read() def dashrepl(matchobj): return matchobj.group(1) newfile.write(re.sub(".*?(\{\{(U|u)delh\}\}.*?\{\{(U|u)delf\}\}).*?", dashrepl, contents)) newfile.close(); file.close()