$re = '/^(?:(?:(\d{9})|.*?)_)?(?:(?:([a-zA-Z]{1})|.*?)_)?(?:(?:((?:0[1-9]|1[0-2]).(?:0[1-9]|[1-2][0-9]|3[0-1]).[0-9]{4})|.*?)_)?(?:(?:(\d*)|.*?)_)?(?:(?:([0-9a-zA-Z]*)|.*?)_)?(?:([0-9a-zA-Z]*)|.*?)$/m';
$str = '000066874_A_12.31.14_001_2Q_ICAN14
000066874_12.31.14_001_2Q_ICAN14
000066874_A_12.31.2014_001_2Q_ICAN14';
preg_match_all($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