$re = '/((?:a+(?(?!b)(*ACCEPT))|b+(?(?!c)(*ACCEPT))|c+(?(?!d)(*ACCEPT))|d+(?(?!e)(*ACCEPT))|e+(?(?!f)(*ACCEPT))|f+(?(?!g)(*ACCEPT))|g+(?(?!h)(*ACCEPT))|h+(?(?!i)(*ACCEPT))|i+(?(?!j)(*ACCEPT))|j+(?(?!k)(*ACCEPT))|k+(?(?!l)(*ACCEPT))|l+(?(?!m)(*ACCEPT))|m+(?(?!n)(*ACCEPT))|n+(?(?!o)(*ACCEPT))|o+(?(?!p)(*ACCEPT))|p+(?(?!q)(*ACCEPT))|q+(?(?!r)(*ACCEPT))|r+(?(?!s)(*ACCEPT))|s+(?(?!t)(*ACCEPT))|t+(?(?!u)(*ACCEPT))|u+(?(?!v)(*ACCEPT))|v+(?(?!w)(*ACCEPT))|w+(?(?!x)(*ACCEPT))|x+(?(?!y)(*ACCEPT))|y+(?(?!z)(*ACCEPT))|z+(?(?!a)(*ACCEPT)))+)/m';
$str = 'abcghiijkyxzzaabcddde';
preg_match_all($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