$re = '/^(?![EB]#)[A-G](\#|b)?/m';
$str = 'A
A#
Ab
B
Bb
C
C#
Cb
D
D#
Db
E
Eb
F
F#
Fb
G
G#
Gb
B#
E#
';
preg_match_all($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