# coding=utf8
# the above tag defines encoding for this document and is for Python 2.x compatibility
import re
regex = r"[^.?!]*(?<=[.?\s!])was exactly(?=[\s.?!])[^.?!]*[.?!]"
test_str = ("As she did so, a most extraordinary thing happened. The bed-clothes gathered themselves together, leapt up suddenly into a sort of peak, and then jumped headlong over the bottom rail.\n"
" It was exactly as if a hand had clutched them in the centre and flung them aside .\n"
"Immediately after, .........")
subst = ""
# You can manually specify the number of replacements by changing the 4th argument
result = re.sub(regex, subst, test_str, 0, re.IGNORECASE | re.MULTILINE)
if result:
print (result)
# Note: for Python 2.7 compatibility, use ur"" to prefix the regex and u"" to prefix the test string and substitution.
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Python, please visit: https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html