$re = '/(\d+)\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,5}CNC\b|\bCNC\W+(?:\w+\W+){0,5}(\d+)/m';
$str = 'the number of CNC machines equalled 5
Here some additional samples of what I want to match "CNC operators numbering 12" and the reverse like "There are 12 qualified CNC operators on site"
Basically any number within a 6 word count of the key phrase. –';
preg_match_all($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