$re = '/((?:(?:gir)|(?:[a-pr-uwyz])(?:(?:[0-9](?:[a-hjkpstuw]|[0-9])?)|(?:[a-hk-y][0-9](?:[0-9]|[abehmnprv-y])?)))) ?([0-9][abd-hjlnp-uw-z]{2})/m';
$str = 'the postcode is g1 1rd';
preg_match_all($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