$re = '/^(?=[iI.\d+-])([+-]?(?:\d+(?:\.\d*)?|\.\d+)(?:[eE][+-]?\d+)?(?![iI.\d]))?([+-]?(?:(?:\d+(?:\.\d*)?|\.\d+)(?:[eE][+-]?\d+)?)?[iI])?$/m';
$str = '1.1
1.1+2.2i
1.1-2.2i
+2.2i
-2.2i
1.1+i
1.1-i
i
-i
';
preg_match_all($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