$re = '/^(?:\s*(?:#.*|!mycommand\s*))+\s*/';
$str = '
# catch this comment
!mycommand
# catch this comment
#catch this comment too
!mycommand
# catch this comment
!mycommand
!mycommand
some code. match until the previous line
# do not catch this comment
!mycommand
# do not catch this comment';
preg_match($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