$re = '/(<(\w+)[^>]*>)((?!<\2).*)(<\/\2>)/s';
$str = 'alpha
<div>
alpha<div>
beta<div>
x < y divided by 4
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: 8pt;" disabled title="data">
<span>infinite</span>
<?= $record->id ?>
</span>
<div> equal </div>
</div>
<div> sum </div>
When x y and y > 0
<div> Summary</div>
Equation id <?= $equation->id ?>
';
preg_match_all($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