$re = '/^(.*)\s(.*)\s(\[.*\])\s(\/.*\/)/';
$str = 'AB制 AB制 [A B zhi4] /to split the bill (where the male counterpart foots the larger portion of the sum)/(theater) a system where two actors take turns in acting the main role, with one actor replacing the other if either is unavailable/';
preg_match($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