$re = '/(?(DEFINE)(?<Digit>one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine))(?(DEFINE)(?<Teen>twenty|thirty|forty|fifty|sixty|seventy|eighty|ninety))(?(DEFINE)(?<TwoDigits>((?&Teen)-)?(?&Digit)|ten|eleven|twelve|thirteen|fourteen|fifteen|sixteen|seventeen|eighteen|nineteen|(?&Teen)))(?(DEFINE)(?<ThreeDigits>((?&Digit) hundred (and )?)?(?&TwoDigits)|(?&Digit) hundred))(?(DEFINE)(?<SixDigits>((?&ThreeDigits) thousand (and )?)?(?&ThreeDigits)|(?&ThreeDigits) thousand))(?(DEFINE)(?<TwelveDigits>((?&SixDigits) million (and )?)?(?&SixDigits)|(?&SixDigits) million))(?&TwelveDigits)/';
$str = 'three
eleven
eighty-two
four hundred sixty-nine
';
preg_match_all($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