$re = '/\<a\b(?![^>]*\bnosecure\b)[^>]*>([^<]*)<\/a>/';
$str = '== secure / find:
<a href="mailto:test@test.com">test@test.com</a>
<a href="mailto:test@test.com" something="else">test@test.com</a>
<a something="else" href="mailto:test@test.com">test@test.com</a>
<a something="else" href="mailto:test@test.com" something="else">test@test.com</a>
== no secure / find NOT:
<a href="mailto:test@test.com" nosecure>test@test.com</a>
<a nosecure href="mailto:test@test.com">test@test.com</a>
<a href="mailto:test@test.com" nosecure="true">test@test.com</a>
<a nosecure="true" href="mailto:test@test.com">test@test.com</a>
<a something="else" href="mailto:test@test.com" something="else" nosecure="true" something="else">test@test.com</a>
<a something="else" nosecure="true" something="else" href="mailto:test@test.com" something="else">test@test.com</a>';
preg_match_all($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