$re = '/(%({)?([A-Za-z0-9]+)(?(2)}))/';
$str = 'asdfasdfds%{ASDF}sdfasdf %asdsa
Match either %MACRO or %{MACRO}, but not ${MACRO nor %MACRO}';
preg_match_all($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