$re = '#([a-z0-9 >}/])
\s* ({(var):([a-z0-9_/.-]+)([?0-9]+)?}) \s*
([a-z0-9 {</])#ix';
$str = ' <article class="ibvt">
<p>
{var:contactText}
</p>
</article>';
preg_match($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