>>> "a <\n \n> z".match('<[^]*>')
["<\n \n>"]

##</code><code>##

  DB<118> "a <\n \n> z" =~ /<(?:.|\n)*>/  ; $ &
 => "<\n \n>"

##</code><code>##

  DB<146> "a <\n \n> z" =~ /<(?s:.)*>/;$ &
 => "<\n \n>"