$re = '/^((([1-9])|([0][1-9])|([1-2]\d)|([3][01]))\.(([1-9])|([0][1-9])|([1][012]))\.\d{4})$/m';
$str = '// good
// 1. group case
2.11.1111
9.11.1111
02.11.1111
09.11.1111
19.11.1111
29.11.1111
30.11.1111
31.11.1111
0.11.1111
00.11.1111
32.11.1111
// 2. group case
11.2.1111
11.9.1111
11.02.1111
11.09.1111
11.10.1111
11.12.1111
11.0.1111
11.00.1111
11.13.1111
// good input, bad date (needs script to process date)';
preg_match_all($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