$re = '/{each\ \$\w+} (?: [^{] | {(?!\/?each) | (?R) )* {\/each}/x';
$str = '<ul>
{each $nestedArr}
<li>{$group}</li>
<ul>
{each $user}
<li>{$name}</li>
{/each}
</ul>
{/each}
</ul>';
preg_match($re, $str, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, 0);
// Print the entire match result
var_dump($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