python - Exclude whitespace from search pattern -

i trying use regular expression findall(). issue i'm having there unknown number of whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, linefeeds, carriage returns) in patterns.

in example bellow want use findall() text inside <d> </d> whenever </a> found after </d>. problem there whitespace characters after </d>.

in example below need retrieve second text. regular expression have works in there no whitespace between </d> , </a>. tried:

regex = '<d>(.+?)</d></a>'  <a>     <b> text </b>     <d> second text</d> </a> 

if need match whitespace between </d> , </a>:

regex = r'<d>(.+?)</d>\s*</a>' 

notice using r'' raw string literal regular expressions in python, avoid double-escaping needed in normal strings:

regex = '<d>(.+?)</d>\\s*</a>' 

and make . match newlines, can use re.dotall flag matching