$re = '/(?:^----CAPITAL WORDS:\n|\G)(?!(----(?:MORE )?CAPITAL WORDS:))(\S.*)(?:\n(?!(?1))(\S.*))+\s*/m';
$str = 'Some random text before.
----CAPITAL WORDS:
first subheading
https://link1
https://link2
second subheading
https://link3
third subheading
https://link4
https://link5
https://link6
https://link7
----MORE CAPITAL WORDS:
Some random text after.
Some random text before.
----CAPITAL WORDS:
first subheading
https://link1
https://link2
----MORE CAPITAL WORDS:
second subheading
https://link3
third subheading
https://link4
https://link5
https://link6
https://link7
----MORE CAPITAL WORDS:
Some random text after.';
preg_match_all($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