title: removing first four and last four characters of strings in list, OR removing specific character patterns
body: <p>I am brand new to Python and have been working with it for a few weeks. I have a list of strings and want to remove the first four and last four characters of each string. OR, alternatively, removing specific character <strong>patterns</strong> (not just specific characters). </p>
  
  <p>I have been looking through the archives here but don't seem to find a question that matches this one. Most of the solutions I have found are better suited to removing specific characters. </p>
  
  <p>Here's the strings list I'm working with:</p>
  
  <pre><code>sites=['www.hattrick.com', 'www.google.com', 'www.wampum.net', 'www.newcom.com']
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I am trying to do is to isolate the domain names and get </p>
  
  <p>[hattrick, google, wampum, newcom]</p>
  
  <p>This question is NOT about isolating domain names from URLs (I have seen the questions about that), but rather about editing specific characters in strings in lists based upon location or pattern.  </p>
  
  <p>So far, I've tried .split, .translate, .strip but these don't seem appropriate for what I am trying to do because they either remove too many characters that match the search, aren't good for recognizing a specific pattern/grouping of characters, or cannot work with the location of characters within a string. </p>
  
  <p>Any questions and suggestions are greatly appreciated, and I apologize if I'm asking this question the wrong way etc. </p>