$re = '/.+(?P<src_ip>\d*\.\d*\.\d*\.\d*)(?:\.(?P<src_port>\d*))?.>.(?P<dst_ip>\d*\.\d*\.\d*\.\d*)(?:\.(?P<dst_port>\d*))?:\.*/';
$str = '10:14:48.983541 IP 10.242.136.232.34266 > 10.81.163.129.9200: Flags [S], seq 2294574211, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 22536912 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
10:14:48.983541 IP 10.242.136.232 > 10.81.163.129.9200: fictional stuff
10:14:48.983541 IP 10.242.136.232 > 10.81.163.129: also fictional stuff
';
preg_match_all($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