$re = '~^([\d,*\/-]*\s+){3}(\(LW\)|[\d,*?\/-]+)\s+((?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC|[\d,*?\/#-]+)(?:\s*,\s*(?:JAN|FEB|MAR|APR|MAY|JUN|JUL|AUG|SEP|OCT|NOV|DEC|[\d,*?\/#-]+))*)\s*((?:SUN|MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|\(LW\)|[\d*?\/#-]+)(?:\s*(?:SUN|MON|TUE|WED|THU|FRI|SAT|\(LW\)|[\d*?\/#-]+))*)([\d,*\/#-]*)$~im';
$str = '0/5 14,18,3-39,52 * ? JAN,MAR,SEP MON-FRI 2002-2010
0/5 14,18,3-39,52 * ? JAAN,MAR,SEP MON-FRI 2002-2010';
preg_match_all($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