import re

START_ITEM = "<ITEM>"
END_ITEM = "<END ITEM>"
TEXT = "1234567890"

pattern = '%s(.*?)%s' % (START_ITEM, END_ITEM)
string = '%s%s%s%s' % (START_ITEM, 200*TEXT, END_ITEM, 1*TEXT)

# Find text inside item and after it
res = re.search(pattern, string)
inside_the_match = res.group(1)
after_match = string[res.end():]

actual = (inside_the_match, after_match)
expected = (200*TEXT, 1*TEXT)
assert actual == expected, "%s\n!=\n%s" % (actual, expected)