$re = '/(?<lhs>(?:[\+\-]*)?\d+) *(?<op>[\+\-\*\/\^]) *(?<rhs>(?:[\+\-] *)?\d+)/m';
$str = 'Available operations.
1. 2+3
2. 2-3
3. 2*3
4. 2/3
5. 2^3
Negative numbers.
6. -2+3
7. 2+-3
8. -2+-3
9. -2--3
Ignores spaces, but not zeroes
10. 2 + 3
11. 15 ^ -1
12. -00+ 02';
preg_match_all($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