$re = '~(?:\\\\cref\{(fig:\d+)\})(?:[^.]+?(?:\\\\cref\{(fig:\d+)\}))+~';
$str = 'Aaa \\cref{fig:1}. Bbb \\cref{fig:2} bbb \\cref{fig:3}. Ccc \\cref{fig:4}. Ddd \\cref{fig:5} ddd \\cref{fig:6} ddd \\cref{fig:7}. Eee \\cref{fig:5} ddd \\cref{fig:6} eee \\cref{fig:7} eeeee \\cref{fig:89} .
';
preg_match_all($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