$re = '/^\s*(#|\w+\s*=|(\*(\/\d+)?|([0-5]?\d)(-([0-5]?\d)(\/\d+)?)?(,([0-5]?\d)(-([0-5]?\d)(\/\d+)?)?)*)\s+(\*(\/\d+)?|([01]?\d|2[0-3])(-([01]?\d|2[0-3])(\/\d+)?)?(,([01]?\d|2[0-3])(-([01]?\d|2[0-3])(\/\d+)?)?)*)\s+(\*(\/\d+)?|(0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(-(0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(\/\d+)?)?(,(0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(-(0?[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01])(\/\d+)?)?)*)\s+(\*(\/\d+)?|([1-9]|1[012])(-([1-9]|1[012])(\/\d+)?)?(,([1-9]|1[012])(-([1-9]|1[012])(\/\d+)?)?)*|jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)\s+(\*(\/\d+)?|([0-7])(-([0-7])(\/\d+)?)?(,([0-7])(-([0-7])(\/\d+)?)?)*|mon|tue|wed|thu|fri|sat|sun)|(@reboot|@yearly|@annually|@monthly|@weekly|@daily|@midnight|@hourly)\s+\S)/';
$str = '0 12-20 * * 4';
preg_match_all($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