re = /(?s)\n(?=(?:(?!START).)*?END)/m
str = 'some text to not modify
some pattern on more than one line START
text to be indented
or remove indentation maybe ?
some pattern on more than one line END
some text to not modify
---
some text to not modify
some pattern on more than one line START
text to be indented
or remove indentation maybe ?
some pattern on more than one line END
some text to not modify'
subst = '\\n\\t'
result = str.gsub(re, subst)
# Print the result of the substitution
puts result
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 Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html