Regex replace (in Python) – a simpler way?

>>> import re
>>> s = "start foo end"
>>> s = re.sub("foo", "replaced", s)
>>> s
'start replaced end'
>>> s = re.sub("(?<= )(.+)(?= )", lambda m: "can use a callable for the %s text too" % m.group(1), s)
>>> s
'start can use a callable for the replaced text too end'
>>> help(re.sub)
Help on function sub in module re:

sub(pattern, repl, string, count=0)
    Return the string obtained by replacing the leftmost
    non-overlapping occurrences of the pattern in string by the
    replacement repl.  repl can be either a string or a callable;
    if a callable, it's passed the match object and must return
    a replacement string to be used.