$re = '/(?m)^(?: +|\t+)\+ *(?:VAR|CONST) *\w+ *=.*(?:\R^(?> +|\t+)[^+\s].*)*/';
$str = ' + VAR name1 = var indented by two spaces and the first nonspace character is \'+\'
+ VAR name2 = var indented by 2x2 spaces
+ VAR name3 = var indented by one \\t
+ VAR name4 = the next line with "name5" is not valid. missing the = character, should not be matched
+ VAR name5
+ CONST name6 = the type could be VAR or CONST
+ VAR multi1 = multiline value where the continuation lines
are indented (starts with two spaces or one tab) and NOT followed by the \'+\'
+ VAR multi1 = multiline value
indented
+ VAR multi1 = multiline value
indented ok too
+ VAR single = this is single line
+ because this line even if it is indented, the first nonspace character is \'+\'
+ VAR multi2 = multiline
could be
indented
any way
and any number of times
until the first non-indented line
the following should NOT match
+ VAR some = sould not be matched, because the line isn\'t indented
+ VAR some = sould not be matched, because the line isn\'t indented at least with TWO spaces or one tab
+ SOME name = value not matched because the SOME isn\'t VAR or CONST';
preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($matches);
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for PHP, please visit: http://php.net/manual/en/ref.pcre.php