regex101: PCRE (Legacy) Match Workspace

Non-Capturing Group(?:start:(?=\w+(?:-\w+){2,9}:end)|(?<=-)\G)

1st Alternativestart:(?=\w+(?:-\w+){2,9}:end)

start:the literal text start: (case sensitive)

Positive Lookahead(?=\w+(?:-\w+){2,9}:end)

\w+any word character, repeated at least once

Non-Capturing Group(?:-\w+){2,9}

{2,9}repeats the group contents below between 2 and 9 times:

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

\w+any word character, repeated at least once

:endthe literal text :end (case sensitive)

2nd Alternative(?<=-)\G

Positive Lookbehind(?<=-)

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

\Gstart of current search

Group 1(\w+)

\w+any word character, repeated at least once

Non-Capturing Group(?:-|:end)

1st Alternative-

-the literal - (45₁₀ / 55₈ / 2D₁₆)

2nd Alternative:end

:endthe literal text :end (case sensitive)

Global pattern flags

g modifier: global. Finds all matches instead of stopping after the first

Search reference

Regular Expression

(?:start:(?=\w+(?:-\w+){2,9}:end)|(?<=-)\G)(\w+)(?:-|:end)

New

-Should-not-match
Some text here and start:test-test-lorem-ipsum-sir-doloret-etc-something:end another something start:SIR-doloret-something:endand this is a non-match: start:SOMmething-blabla:end because hasn't got enough groups.
 
This also start:REST-doloret-etc-something:end but not this: start:XXYY-lorem-ipsum-sir-doloret-etc-something-8-nine-ten-eleven:end because i
t's too long. start:XXYY-lorem-ipsum-sir-doloret-etc-something-8-nine-ten:end just there, and also start:XXYY-lorem-ipsum:end-garbage

This shouldn-t match also start:nothing:end! start:nothing-next:end

Test start:Something-nine-ten-eleven:end-bla-blastart:REST-doloret-etc-something:end---

Regular Expressions 101

Regular Expression

Extraction