import re
regex = re.compile(r"(^\w+ &.*)", flags=re.MULTILINE)
test_str = ("Paul & Mary Atkins - \n"
"John Arnold & Dave Badman - \n"
"----DO NOT MATCH----\n"
"John Baines & Dave Adams - \n"
" ")
subst = "$1"
result = regex.sub(subst, test_str)
if result:
print(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 Python, please visit: https://docs.python.org/3/library/re.html