$re = '/(?P<multi>mul\((?P<num1>\d*),(?P<num2>\d*)\))+|(?P<do>do\(\))+|(?P<dont>don\'t\(\))+/m';
$str = 'xmul(2,4)%&mul[3,7]!@^do_not_mul(5,5)+mul(32,64]then(mul(11,8)mul(8,5))
mul(6,9!
mul ( 2 , 4 )
mul(4*
?(12,34)
mul(123,4)
mul(44,46)';
preg_match_all($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