#!/usr/bin/env python3 import re filename = 'fsp_competitive_cross_reference.cut_n_paste.inc' # Read in the file with open(filename, 'r') as file: filedata = file.read() # print(filedata) values = re.findall("\$form_state\['values'\].*\]", filedata) temp = re.sub(r"(\$form_state\['values'\]\[)('.*')(\])", r'$form_state->getValue(\2)', filedata) print(temp)