$re = '/(?(DEFINE)
(?<digit> (?: [0-9] ) )
(?<factor> (?: \( (?&exp) \) | (?&digit) ) )
(?<term> (?: (?&term) \* (?&term) | (?&factor) ) )
(?<exp> (?: (?&exp) \+ (?&exp) | (?&term) ) )
)
^ (?&exp) $/mx';
$str = '1+2*3';
preg_match_all($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