#!/usr/bin/env python

import re

string = "&(/Term/SemanticType/@cdr:ref =="
pattern = re.compile(r"[()|&]|[=!+-]=|[^\s()|&=!+-]+")
print(pattern.findall(string))
pattern = re.compile(r"""\
    [()|&]           # single-character tokens
  | [=!+-]=          # multi-character operators
  | [^\s()|&=!+-]+   # path value
""", re.VERBOSE)
print(pattern.findall(string))

print(re.findall(r"[ ]XXX[ ]", " XXX "))
print(re.findall(r"""\
    [ ]XXX[ ]
""", " XXX ", re.VERBOSE))
print(re.findall(r"\sXXX\s", " XXX "))
print(re.findall(r"""\
    \sXXX\s
""", " XXX ", re.VERBOSE))