$re = '/^\*\*Header2\*\*.*[\n\r]
(?P<content>[\s\S]+?)
(?=^\*\*)/mx';
$str = '**Header1**
thing1
thing2
thing3
thing4
**Header2**
dsfgs
sdgsg
empty line
rrrrrr
**Hello Dolly**
abider
abcder
ffffff
etc.';
preg_match_all($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