$re = '/(?\'a\'~)(?=(?!\s)(?:(?!\k\'a\').)+(?<!\s)\k\'a\')|(?=(?=(?\'b\'[\s\S]*))(?\'c\'\k\'a\'(?!\s)(?:(?!\k\'a\').)+(?<!\s)(?=\k\'b\'\z)|(?<=(?=x^|(?&c))[\s\S])))\k\'a\'/';
$str = '~test~';
preg_match_all($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