$re = '/(\d+(?:-\d+)?\')? (\D+) (\d+)/';
$str = '20\' Container 1, 40\' Open Container 1, 40-45\' Closed Container 3, container roll 10, container lift 50';
preg_match_all($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