$re = '/(?:\s*\bCost\s+)(?<cost>.+?)(?:\s*\bMaterials\s+)(?<material>.+?)(?:\s*\bLocation\s+)(?<location>.+)/';
$str = 'Cost £45 Materials glue, plastic, wood and nails Location Sale, Manchester North England.';
preg_match($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