$re = '/\w+/';
$str = 'HCl + Na -> NaCl + H2
2 HCl + 2 Na -> 2 NaCl + H2
12 CO2 + 6 H2O -> 2 C6H12O6 + 12 O2';
preg_match_all($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