$re = '/(?=^\d+[a-z]+(?:-\d+[a-z]+)*$)(?:(?<gal>\d+)gal(?=-|$))?-?(?:(?<qt>\d+)qt(?=-|$))?-?(?:(?<pt>\d+)pt(?=-|$))?-?(?:(?<cup>\d+)cup(?=-|$))?-?(?:(?<oz>\d+)oz)?$/m';
$str = '1gal-1qt-2pt-2cup-5oz
1qt-1gal-2pt-2cup-5oz
1gal-6oz
1gal
6oz';
preg_match_all($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