$re = '/(?&valid_text)(?(DEFINE)
(?<valid_text>
\A\s*(?&version)\s*
(?: (?&element) \s* )+
\s*\Z
)
(?<version>
version\(.+?\);
)
(?<element>
element\s*
(?&element_body);
)
(?<element_body>
\( (?: [^()]++ | (?&element_body) )* \)
)
)/xms';
$str = 'version();
element
(
);
garbage <--- THIS SHOULD NOT MATCH!
element
(
);
element
(
);';
preg_match_all($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