import re
regex = re.compile(r"/(\w+[[/])")
test_str = "//party[@id='party1:abc']/abc:person[@id='Trader']/trade/abc:personId[@personIdScheme='urn:xyz:person-id:PEOPLESOFT']/text()"
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