$re = '/\{([\s\S]*equation\})\}/';
$str = '$str=\'\\add[sometext]{\\begin{equation}\\label{eqn:3}
f_{1} =
\\begin{cases}}
\\beta_{1} + \\beta_{2}f_{2} & f_{2}\\leq \\gamma\\\\
\\beta_{1} + \\beta_{2}\\gamma + \\beta_{4}(f_{2}-\\gamma) & f_{2} >\\gamma
\\end{cases}sdsdssd,
\\end{equation}}\'
blablablaba {}';
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