$re = '~(<dependency>\s+<groupId>)(.+)(</groupId>\s+<artifactId>)(.+)(</artifactId>\s+<version>)([^\$]+?)(</version>[\s\S]*?\s+</dependency>)~';
$str = ' <dependency>
<groupId>org.example.one</groupId>
<artifactId>example1</artifactId>
<version>1.2.3</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.example.two</groupId>
<artifactId>example2</artifactId>
<version>${example2.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.example.three</groupId>
<artifactId>example3</artifactId>
<version>1.2.3</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.example.four</groupId>
<artifactId>example4</artifactId>
<version>${example4.version}</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.example.five</groupId>
<artifactId>example5</artifactId>
<version>1.2.3</version>
<scope>test</scope>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<artifactId>*</artifactId>
<groupId>*</groupId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.example.six</groupId>
<artifactId>example6</artifactId>
<version>${example6.version}</version>
<scope>test</scope>
<exclusions>
<exclusion>
<artifactId>*</artifactId>
<groupId>*</groupId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>';
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