$re = '/\bSOURCE#.*\s*^\[1](.*\s*^(?!\[\d+]).*\bPNR(?:\n(?!\[\d+]).*)*(?:\n\[\d+].*)*)/m';
$str = '**** SOURCE#24 ****
[1] Source Location [Local/Remote] : Remote
Remote Host Name : PNQ
User Name : foo
[2] Source directory : HDPGWRF
[3] Directory poll interval : 30
[4] File name format : ACR_FILEFORMAT
[5] Delete files from source : y
**** SOURCE#25 ****
[1] Source Location [Local/Remote] : Remote
Remote Host Name : PNR
User Name : foo
[2] Source directory : HDPGWRF
[3] Directory poll interval : 30
[4] File name format : ACR_FILEFORMAT
[5] Delete files from source : y
**** SOURCE#26 ****
etc.....';
preg_match_all($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