Yes. You are right. It would match any, but not the "string" of the uppercases "ARTEC" which is not what i wanted. I "tested" it by putting print statements into the loops now. It works with the new pattern. But i made another mistake the variable needs to be assigned "globally" outside the while loop or my next if block never gets executed. Any hint? ... How could i declare the variable to work outside the loop my and local wont do ...?

Thanks
MH