fredrik lundh

there's always the manual:

http://docs.python.org/lib/node114.html

compile(pattern[, flags])

Compile a regular expression pattern into a regular expression object,
which can be used for matching using its match() and search() methods,
described below.

The expression's behaviour can be modified by specifying a flags value.

/.../

S
DOTALL

Make the "." special character match any character at all, including a
newline; without this flag, "." will match anything except a newline. /.../
</F>