$re = '/(?:^|[^\$])\${(?:(?P<section>[a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+?)\:)??(?P<key>[a-zA-Z0-9\-_]+?)(?:\[(?P<index>[0-9]+?)\])??\}/';
$str = '$${var3}
${section:var}
${section:var[11]}
${var3[0]}-${var3}-$${section2:var3[0]}-${section2:var3}-
tintin-${var3}-${section2:var3[0]}-${section2:var3}-
\'this will be repeated forever${${${${${${${${${${${${${${${${var0h}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}.
values ValueList: var10: [\'${var1}[999]\']
';
preg_match_all($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