$re = '/(?P<question>\w+)\s*(?P<suffix>\(\w+\))?\s*(?::\s*(?P<options>\w+(?:,\s*\w+)*))?\s*\?\s*(?P<type>\w+)/';
$str = 'Color: Yellow, Green, Red ? ListBox
Color ? ListBox
Size(mm): Yellow, Green, Red ?ListBox
Size: Small, Medium, Large ? List
Age (yrs) ? ListBox';
preg_match_all($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