$re = '/(?(DEFINE)
(?<n>[-+]?\d+(?:\.\d+)?)
(?<a>\s*[-+*\/]\s*)
(?<g>\((?:(?&n)|(?&g))(?&a)(?:(?&n)|(?&g))\))
)
^(?&g)$/mx';
$str = '(14.0 + 46.0)
((5.0 - 50.0) - 15.0)
(15.0 - (5.0 - 50.0))';
preg_match_all($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