$re = '/(?:(?<=^\n)|(?<=\A))
(?<list_all>
(?<list_prefix>
[\s]{0,3}
(?<list_type_any>
(?:
(?<list_type_unordered_star>(?&list_unordered_star))
|
(?<list_type_unordered_minus>(?&list_unordered_minus))
|
(?<list_type_unordered_plus>(?&list_unordered_plus))
|
(?<list_type_ordered>(?&list_ordered))
)
)
[ \t]+
)
(?<list_content>(?s:.+?))
(?<list_after>
\z
|
\n{2,}
(?=\S)
(?!
[ \t]*
(?<list_type_any2>
(?:
(?<list_type_unordered_star2>(?&list_unordered_star))
|
(?<list_type_unordered_minus2>(?&list_unordered_minus))
|
(?<list_type_unordered_plus2>(?&list_unordered_plus))
|
(?<list_type_ordered2>(?&list_ordered))
)
)
[ \t]+
)
)
)
(?(DEFINE)
(?<list_unordered_star>
[\*]
(?!
(?:
[ ]?[\*][ ]?
){2,}
)
)
(?<list_unordered_minus>
[\-]
(?!
(?:
[ ]?[\-][ ]?
){2,}
)
)
(?<list_unordered_plus>[\+])
(?<list_ordered>\d+[\.])
)/mxJ';
$str = '
* asterisk 1
* asterisk 2
* asterisk 3
* * *
';
preg_match_all($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