$re = '/\b\d{6}(?:\d{3})?\b/m';
$str = 'ID 123 - it should not meet the regext as it is 3 digits
ID 1234 - it should not meet the regext as it is 4 digits
ID 12345 - it should not meet the regext as it is 5 digits
ID 123456 - it should meet the regex it is 6 digits <==========
ID 1234567 - it should not meet the regext as it is 7 digits
ID 12345678 - it should not meet the regext as it is 8 digits
ID 123456789 - it should meet the regext as it is 9 digits <==========
ID 1234567890 - it should not meet the regext as it is 10 digits
ID 12345678901 - it should not meet the regext as it is 11 digits';
preg_match_all($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