$re = '/(?<name>name)/';
$str = ' <students>
<student name="Raja" age="13" class="6" />
<student name="Nar" age="15" class\'"8" />
<student name="Mag" age="16" class="7" />
</students>
<students>
<student name="Rex" age="13" class="6" />
<student name="Nanny" age="15" class\'"8" />
</students>';
preg_match($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