title: re.search Multiple lines Python
body: <p>re.search with \s or '\n' is not finding the multiline i'm trying to search for. </p>
  
  <p>Portion of Source:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Date/Time:
  2013-08-27 17:05:36 
  
  ----- BEGIN SEARCH -----
  
  GENERAL DATA:
  NAME:   AB12
  SECTOR: 
  999,999
  CONTROLLED BY:  Player
  ALLIANCE:   Aliance
  ONLINE: 1 seconds ago
  SIZE:   Large
  HOMEWORLD:  NO
  APPROVAL RATING:    100%
  PRODUCTION RATE:    100%
  
  RESOURCE DATA:
  POWER:  0 / 0
  BUILDINGS:  0 / 20
  ORE:    80,000 / 80,000
  CRYSTAL:    80,000 / 80,000
  POPULATION: 40,000 / 40,000
  
  BUILDING DATA:
  N/A
  
  UNIT DATA:
  WYVERN(S):  100
  
  ----- END SEARCH -----
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Looking at it in Notepad++ I see "BUILDING DATA:(LF)" </p>
  
  <p>Full Code</p>
  
  <pre><code>lines = open('scan.txt','r').readlines()
  for a in lines:
      if re.search(r"\A\d", a):
          digits = a
          if re.search(r"2013", digits):
              date.append(digits[:19])
              count +=1
          elif re.search(r",", digits):
              clean = digits.rstrip()
              sector = clean.split(',')
              x.append(sector[0])
              y.append(sector[1])
      elif re.search(r"CONTROLLED BY:", a):
          player.append(a[15:].rstrip())
      elif re.search(r"ALLIANCE:", a):
          alliance.append(a[10:].rstrip())
      elif re.search(r"SIZE:", a):
          size.append(a[6:].rstrip())
      elif re.findall('BUILDING DATA:\sN/A', a, re.M):
          def_grid = ''
          print "Didn't find it"
          defense.append(def_grid)
          defense_count +=1
      elif re.search(r"DEFENSE GRID", a):
          def_grid = a[16:].rstrip()
          print "defense found"
          defense_count +=1
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But I am not having anything returned.</p>
  
  <p>I need to put an empty spacer in when "DEFENSE GRID" doesn't exist after "BUILDING DATA:"</p>
  
  <p>I know i'm missing something and I've tried reading up on re.search but i'm not able to find any thorough examples that explain how the multiline works.</p>