$re = '/(A(\d{8})00|(A(\d{7})00))/m';
$str = '//Should match:
ABC12345678CRP1234567F2801209A1234567800<<<33
ABC12345678CRP1234567F2801209A123456700<<<33
//Should not match:
ABC12345678CRP1234567F2801209B1234567800<<<33 (starts with B)
ABC12345678CRP1234567F2801209A12345600<<<33 (less than 7 or 8 digits)
ABC12345678CRP1234567F2801209A1234567899<<<33 (ends with 99)
';
preg_match_all($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