$re = '/^(?:\d+\.|[a-zA-Z ])*$/m';
$str = ' -> Match
Foo
Foo Bar
Foo 1. Bar
Foo 11. Bar
1. Foo 11. Bar
-> No Match
Foo 1 Bar
';
preg_match_all($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