import re
regex = re.compile(r"(<xref>[^\d]+)(\d)(<\/xref)", flags=re.MULTILINE)
test_str = "This is a example string and first line with <xref>id1</xref>then,<xref>id2</xref>and with no line breaks<xref>id3</xref>. This is a second line which has <xref>id4</xref>"
subst = "$1eqvalue$2$3"
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